Agriculture for All

The ANB approach to land reform

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ANB has bought into the country’s empowerment approach through land reform and skills development and has, since the very beginning, been involved in projects aimed at restoring communities and providing long-term sustainability. The model for successful community-private enterprise partnerships rests on well-negotiated agreements, reasonable financial compensation, watertight contracts as well as honesty and integrity in all dealings. Some successful land reform and community projects that the Group is involved in include:

Maradadi is a farm in the Letsitele Valley that was returned to the Batlhabene community in 2001 after a successful land claim. ANB holds a straight lease from the community, while giving community members preference in employment and learnerships. Sixty percent of workers on the farm are women. Indigo is managing the farm for 15 years and ideally the beneficiaries of the project and recipients of the skills transfer courses will then be in a position to take over the management of the farm. We believe Maradadi is a stellar example of how successful such a collaboration can be, both in terms of the quality of the crop being delivered by the farm, as well as in the establishment of an empowered management team.

Sustainability is the core aim when engaging with farming communities and/or land claim beneficiaries. At Serala Estate, which previously had seen the entire working farm being decimated through disastrous land reform initiatives, ANB has put a 25-year rental agreement in place to allow sufficient time for the redevelopment and re-establishment of orchards. The lease agreement allows for a share of revenue garnered from the project in favour of the community. Since the inception of the agreement, ANB has been training and developing the local people as farmers and managers, while productively and profitably farming the land. Currently, 48 hectares have been planted with the special Shelly mango variety, an old Midknight orchard was pruned to renew growth, while others were worked over to the sought-after Leanri mandarin variety. In addition, 180 hectares of new macadamia trees and 132 hectares of avocado orchards were established afresh.