Ramaphosa: 2.5 million hectares for Black farmers, with deeds
South Africa's farm exports hit a record R270 billion last year. The president says Black farmers produce about a tenth of commercial output.
Pretoria — South Africa's government is releasing about 2.5 million hectares of state-owned land to Black farmers, with title deeds, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter on Monday.
He set the measure against a sector that has done well as a whole and badly on inclusion. Farming has more than doubled in size since 1994, he said, yet many communities remain on its edges.
Two agricultures
Mr Ramaphosa repeated a phrase often used about South African farming: that the country still has two agricultures. Commercial farms that are mostly white-owned account for the bulk of commercial output. Black farmers contribute only about 10%.
Relying on a small part of the population to feed the country, he argued, cannot last, particularly as the population grows and demand for food rises.
The numbers
- Agricultural exports reached a record R270 billion in 2025.
- South Africa is the world's 32nd-largest agricultural exporter.
- Nearly half of those exports go to the rest of Africa. The European Union, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas take most of the remainder.
- The main products are table grapes, maize, beef, wine, citrus, sugar and wool.
- The sector employs about 944,000 people, with a further 200,000 in the wider value chain.
Land is not enough
The president said land has to come with finance, skills, mentoring and training if new farmers are to work at commercial scale. Emerging farmers, he said, need capital that is affordable and patient.
He pointed to Redlands Farm, a commercial dairy at Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape that is owned and run by young Black farmers. It expanded with help from the Land Bank's blended finance scheme, which combines a government grant with a loan. Mr Ramaphosa wants commercial banks and agribusinesses to join the scheme and design their own instruments.
He also thanked industry bodies that support new farmers, among them the organisations for citrus, grain, wool, potatoes, red meat, milk and fruit.
The newsletter did not give a timetable for the release of the land or say how recipients will be chosen.
Source: SAnews, 12 October 2026.
