Going The Extra Mile To Provide Farmer Support And Development

For more than 30 years, the project implementation agency, Casidra, has worked behind the scenes to empower emerging farmers. Ashley Seymour, the current CEO, spoke to Glenneis Kriel about plans to extend support to include entrepreneurial finance, environmental projects and more.

- Glenneis Kriel

YOU STARTED WORKING AT CASIDRA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. COULD YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND?

I’ve always been passionate about agriculture, so was delighted when Casidra offered me the CEO position. I’m a chartered accountant, but have spent most of my career working in development and impact financing. I’ve worked in the wine, citrus and fishing industries, at a development finance institution, and at a South African investment bank.

Agriculture is such an underrated field, with a considerable developmental impact on rural communities.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY AND CURRENT STATUS OF CASIDRA?

Casidra is an acronym for Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development in Rural Areas. It’s a provincial business enterprise public entity, developed in the 1980s out of the old Landelike Ontwikkelingsmaatskappy, to manage and facilitate the transfer of government-owned farms to communities.

Of the six farms that Casidra administered, only two, Waaikraal and Amaleinstein, are still under its management. Its latest success is the transfer of the 75ha pome fruit farm, Anhalt, to the Haarlem community [in the Langkloof].

HOW HAS THE SCOPE OF THE AGENCY EXPANDED SINCE THEN?

In this financial year, Casidra is managing R500 million in grant funding for various government departments on a ring-fenced basis for the implementation of various projects. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture is our core partner; it has a programme for support, development and transformation, targeting emerging farmers across a range of commodities. Casidra manages these funds and implements the projects.