Hortgro Skills Accelerator Project

The Hortgro Skills Accelerator Project (HSAP), in partnership with the Jobs Fund, is designed to enhance the capacity of the agricultural sector through three key components: capacity building/business coaching, interns/graduate placement, and business development support.

This project addresses the limited and critical technical and financial business support needs for emerging deciduous fruit producers through a tailored capacity building approach. The identified constraints are solved by providing comprehensive business coaching programmes tailored for the needs of the businesses. The second component of the project provides comprehensive support towards graduates and the internship placements programme through provision of stipends to unlock barriers to placement (mainly due to lack of accommodation, transport or stipends).

For the placement programme, the support includes provision of the needed resources unique to each placement, including rental of accommodation, transport and/or stipends in cases where placement opportunities are available but lack comprehensive resources to support the individual. A total of 46 students has been assisted to date through the programme. The anticipated medium- to long-term outcomes include improved and sustainable businesses, development within each agri-preneur’s business capabilities, upskilled graduates with practical workplace experiences and increased employability. The business development support entails supporting new entrants and existing emerging deciduous fruit farmers with resources for entry to the industry or expansion of existing operations. This includes completion of business plans and whole farm plans as well as facilitation of access to finance through available funding institutions.

Through tailored coaching, training, and mentorship, agri-preneurs gain the skills to make informed decisions, access finance, and use effective management tools. Bringing farming entities onto the HSAP is done according to strict criteria meeting the objectives of the project. The first step in the process after bringing the farm onto the HSAP is conducting a needs analysis. The objective of the needs analysis is to identify the development gaps or challenges on each specific farming entity. The objective of the process is to identify possible interventions which will contribute to the objective of the Hortgro Skills Accelerator initiative, i.e., to enhance the business skills and financial

literacy of farmers and agri-preneurs and by providing comprehensive business coaching programmes tailored for the needs of the businesses. The needs analysis is based on four main criteria:

– Technical assessment

– Institutional analysis

– Financial assessment

– Economic, and socio-economic impact.

The needs analysis report then forms the road-map to implementation on each individual farming entity. Currently close to 30 fruit farming entities located in the Western and Eastern Cape as well as non-traditional growing areas such as the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, have been brought onto the HSAP.

This intiative is a partnership between Hortgro and the Jobs Fund. The Jobs Fund co-funding enabled the implementation of the programme at a larger scale due to increased resources.