Empowering Co-operatives Through Skills
Development and Training: AgriSETA’s
Commitments
By Professor Gilingwe Mayende
Chairperson of AgriSETA Board
21 September 2012
Contents
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A brief sketch of the CRDP
Some key imperatives in rural development
Some major emerging challenges of the CRDP
The new co-operative thrust in SA
Agricultural Co-operatives
Challenges facing agricultural co-operatives in
SA
• Some key determinants of sustainability
• AgriSETA’s Commitments
A brief sketch of the CRDP (2009)
• CRDP’s major objective is the establishment of
‘vibrant and sustainable rural communities’
characterised by access to productive assets, and
employment opportunities
• Almost exclusive focus on the former homelands
• Agrarian transformation as a central platform for
rural development and as a springboard towards
other productive processes, including spin-offs in
rural manufacturing, particularly agro-processing, as
well as a range of non-agricultural activities
A brief sketch of the CRDP (2009)
• Strategic investment in infrastructure for the benefit
of entire rural communities and not only those
involved in agricultural production
• Social mobilisation through the establishment of
social clubs and co-operatives for economic
activities, wealth creation and productive use of
assets
• Linking of agrarian transformation to land reform for
the purpose of accelerating access to land in relevant
cases, strengthening tenure security and speedy
processing of outstanding restitution claims
Some Key Imperatives in Rural
Development
• Creation of opportunities for employment and suitable
conditions for raising an adequate income – a fundamental
requirement for human dignity and decent work.
• Promotion of the of the income-generating capacity of
households
• Fostering conditions for beneficiaries to produce a surplus and
make a profit
• Support mechanisms for communities to become real owners
of their enterprises development projects
• Integration of the beneficiaries into the wider national
economy as producers of goods and services, and as
contributors to the national fiscus as taxpayers
Some Major Emerging Challenges
for the CRDP
• Methodologically, the research approach of the programme
based on ‘pilot studies’ has a number of flaws, e.g.
• ‘Lessons’ derived from the Giyani pilot are not necessarily
replicable elsewhere; e.g. provision of 231 houses will not
easily be replicated in the 161 wards in the area let alone the
thousands of rural villages throughout the country
 Work done within a pilot study area takes place under ideal
conditions, which gives the information gathering exercise a
highly subjective character
 The piloting exercise is also a concentrated effort,
characterised by the disproportionate deployment of
resources to the pilots
Some Key Emerging Challenges for
the CRDP
• Allocation of appropriate budgets
• No clear empowerment model for communities through
promotion of ‘development from below’
• ‘Welfarist’ or subsistence, grant-based rather than subsidy
model
• The model seems to falling into the trap of the pitfalls of the
group-based approach
• Assumption of a balanced equation in terms of the
configuration of roles of power structures at the local level
• Tension between traditional authorities and elected councils,
whilst communities are organisationally weak and therefore
marginalised
Some Major emerging Challenges
for the CRDP
• With regard to non-agricultural interventions, weak linkages
with the SMME development work being done by the DTI and
SEDA, and the Department of Public Works’ EPWP
• Lack of an enterprise development model
• Vagueness on how agro-cessing would be introduced, and
how funding for it would be mobilised, including private
sector investment
• The section on co-operatives in the CRDP framework
document is very weak and lacks a clear vision
The New Co-operative Thrust in SA
•A wide range of government departments such as the DTI,
Department of Higher Education, Labour, Agriculture Forestry
and Fisheries, Social Development, Defence and Military
Veterans are actively working towards establishment of cooperatives
• A number of institutions such as SEDA, NEDLAC, COSATU and
many others are also playing a pivotal role
• National Treasury is working on the establishment of a Cooperative Bank
• Existing legislation and policies are being revised to provide
inter alia for the establishment of a Co-operatives Development
Agency and an apex body that will represent all co-operatives in
the country
Agricultural Co-operatives
Success stories in Africa and Asia show that co-operatives:
• Enable their members to become active and meaningful
participants in local and national economies, and they
promote socio-economic development
• Help create employment and the development of human
resources as they provide training opportunities for nonskilled and skilled members
• Provide an organisational framework to deliver cheaply
interventions aimed at assisting members to access services
such as extension and input supply and facilitate access to
financial services
• Smooth income flow to members through bulk marketing and
collective negotiation, collective investment in machinery, as
well as promote economies of scale
Agricultural Co-operatives
• Facilitate expansion of productive activity and diversification to
agro-processing and other forms of value addition, and enable
the producers to sell in processed form commodities previously
sold in raw form very near to the farm gate, which in turn
promotes entrepreneurship
• Ease pressure and over-dependency on the government with
regard to provision of housing, healthcare, electrification
• Enhance family and social values, and promote peace and
security within communities by lessening social tensions and
discouraging deviant behaviour
• Promote social cohesion and peer monitoring
Challenges facing Agricultural Cooperatives in SA
• High failure rate among co-operatives
• How to ensure effective participation by
communities and avoid the dominance that is often
exercised by prominent individuals and institutions
• How to get local government to interface effectively
with the institutions supporting co-operatives
• Strengthening stakeholder mobilization and buy-in
Challenges facing Agricultural Cooperatives in SA
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Low skills and knowledge base base
How to empower the youth through co-operatives
Low asset and resource base among communities
Unsustainable funding model – grant rather than
subsidy-based
• Handout mentality and ‘culture of entitlement’
• Exclusion of co-operatives in locally-based planning
initiatives
Challenges facing Agricultural Cooperatives in SA
• Top-down communication and implementation
approach
• One size fits all approach
• General lack of organization among communities visà-vis formal government structures, particularly at
the provincial and municipal levels
• No clear articulation of enterprise development
and
community ownership of enterprises in development
plans
Challenges facing Agricultural Cooperatives in SA
• Risk aversion/avoidance among
rural/communities
• Weak linkages with extension services to
support productive activities of co-operatives
• Ineffective training methods
• Weak research base and backing
Some Key Determinants of
Sustainability
• Movement away from the project approach (ISRDP approach)
towards a more integrated programme approach covering
larger target groups and areas
• Investment in infrastructure directly productive infrastructure
such as irrigation systems, while roads must connect the
production areas with markets
• Effective organisation of the production process with issues
such as natural resources, capital assets, inputs and market
access being integral parts of strategy
• Training should move away from the classroom-based type
towards more interactive approaches such as Paolo Freire’s
Dialogical Approach
• Factoring in of indigenous knowledge systems
Some key Determinants of
Sustainability
• Inculcation of a culture and mindset of
entrepreneurship and ‘own contribution’
• A strong co-operative movement would ensure a
strong movement towards rural development
• This would also support the democratization of the
South African economy right down to the village level
• Facilitation rather than prescription
• Ensure strong research basis for policy/programme
interventions
AgriSETA’s Commitment to Rural
Development & Co-operatives
• Coperatives in
NDSII
• Provision of systematic and in-depth training
• R21 million allocated for 2013/14 budget
• R10 million allocated by DRDLR
• R4 million allocated by DAFF
• Delivery mechanisms – AFETs and accredited
service providers
• Parternships with all relevant stakeholders
(DAFF, DRDLR, SEDA, DBSA, SANACO, NYDA, etc)
Thank You