SaveAct farmers who received a farming input voucher worth R2 000 from the Solidarity Fund earlier this year continue to reap the benefits.
The vouchers were for the purchase of farming inputs, and were part of a drive by the Solidarity Fund’s Farming Input Programme to support subsistence farmers and ultimately help mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 6 175 vouchers were distributed to SaveAct farmers.
Jane Sibiya (43) is a savings group member who has a small poultry business in Loskop, KwaZulu-Natal. She is just one of many farmers who have been able to boost their enterprise with this initiative. Sibiya buys four-week-old chickens and sells them after two to three weeks. She used her voucher to improve and expand her business, by buying quality drinkers and feeders for her birds as well as day-old chicks and feed for them.
Sibiya, who lives with her husband, two children and two grandchildren, started saving in January 2018. Although she did not receive a lot of money from her share-out that year, in 2019 things started to change.
The money from that share-out enabled her to build a small building with the intention to start a tuck shop. The shop was officially opened in 2020 and all her share-out money was used to finance and stock it. Her shop has grown and now generates an income of around R5000 per month.
Sibiya also receives an income from a disability grant and from her poultry business, which she started after the shop was established. She sells at the social grant pay point and at home.
She belongs to two savings groups and saves a total of R2 000 per month.