Durban - A sum of R1.1 million was donated to the Agri Securitas Trust Fund yesterday by Corteva Agriscience, Sanlam and NWK limited at the Agri SA 2022 congress to help ensure rural safety.
Cobus Van Zyl, chairperson of the fund, said the trust fund was founded by Agri SA in October 1998 as an initiative started by Nelson Mandela after a special summit dealing with rural safety. Since 2017 the trust fund has supported more than 122 rural safety projects improving the safety, lives and livelihoods of almost 8 800 farmers and 183 000 farmworkers and their dependants.
Van Zyl said the generous donation was a vital contribution to the trust’s work of supporting farming communities in their endeavours to protect themselves against farm attacks and general criminality.
He said while farmers worldwide were vulnerable to crime, in South Africa, the farming community must also contend with brutal farm attacks.
“(This) phenomenon (is) peculiar to our environment, compromising the country’s future food security. The vulnerability of farming and rural communities is therefore not only a farmers’ issue but a community issue and a national imperative, and we are encouraged to see the corporate world taking proactive steps to assist the sector in keeping farming communities safe,” said Van Zyl.
According to Van Zyl the funding will be used to expand the installation of camera systems.
He said this expensive technology had proven to be successful in monitoring vast areas for criminality and detecting veld fires before they can spread.
He added that the donation underscored the strong partnerships forged between the agricultural sector and corporate world, adding that it also built on the donations from other corporate partners including Nissan SA, that had donated millions of rand over the past 21 years.
Karl Socikwa, group executive of market development and sustainability at Sanlam, said the insurance company knew how catastrophic it would be to the country, economy and communities if the agricultural sector was unable to offer enduring food security.
“As part of our long-standing relationship with the trust fund we will continue to support their exceptional efforts in helping increase the security in the vulnerable rural areas. Our purpose as a business is to empower generations to be financially confident, secure and prosperous and we hope this initiative will have an impact in this area for farming communities,” he said.
Johan Bezuidenhout, the group manager of corporate marketing and communication at NWK Limited said: “For NWK, it is of utmost importance that the safety of producers, their families and farm workers be taken care of, the country’s food security depends on it. This contribution to the Agri Securitas Trust Fund is therefore important to us as a matter of national interest for all South Africans.”