82 Province Total Female Male % Women Eastern Cape 411 219 192 53,28% KwaZulu-Natal 219 112 107 51,14% Limpopo 260 152 108 58,46% Mpumalanga 234 106 128 45,30% Province Total Female Male % Women Eastern Cape 1025 552 473 53.85% KwaZulu-Natal 241 116 125 48.13% Limpopo 528 336 192 63.64% Mpumalanga 255 108 147 42.35% Table 6A: Producers per province 2024/2025 season. Support to individual advanced producers The purpose of this programme is to support the outstanding candidates who have emerged from the study group system as potential New Era commercial producers. These are producers who, although they demonstrate promise and potential, need one on one support in terms of production planning, management, support in terms of financial applications and reporting as well as business and entrepreneurial skills development etc. It is a priority of Grain SA to assist producers to full commercialisation so once these developing and outstanding producers are identified, we target them with focussed services and support. To access, wherever possible, recapitalisation from the Department of Rural Development. To get Development and Land Reform to ‘fast-track’ their development. To access production loans for the producers wherever possible so that these producers can use the land available to them. To assist the producers with access to mechanisation in cases where this is a challenge. To build stronger support networks in the sector for the producers to tap into. PLAN TO GET THE PRODUCERS READY Through the advanced producer programme, we endeavour to get producers ready for the next step of grain farming which will make them eligible for loan financing. In order to assess the producers and their skills, we have developed a score card and a skills audit that we are using to identify needs. In the PGP Programme currently, we have over 800 producers in the Small holder to New Era commercial producer categories. Currently we have funding applications in process for 82 producers (approximately 10% of the producers). The other producers need to be serviced and supported to reach this level of farming and business acumen. Loan Funded Producers (offshoot of the Advanced Producers Project) One of the major focus areas of the entire programme is to develop commercial producers who are producing grains, cereals and oil seeds at a commercial level. The production costs per hectare are high and most producers with access to larger fields need to borrow money to finance the production. This is one of the main challenges of the entire producer development in South Africa. Lending money to a developing producer is risky for a number of reasons: The producer usually does not have adequate experience, the mechanisation might not be up to standard, the soil status might not be ideal (with regard to phosphates and soil acidity), the skills of the producer might be lacking, and in addition to that, the current weather patterns are variable – some years are too dry, some too wet, some late rains in the spring, some late rains in the autumn, unseasonal hot and cold spells have been observed. All these add to the risks. PHAHAMA GRAIN PHAKAMA NPC Table 6B: Producers per province 2025/2026 season.
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