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Abstract
Rural Development has emerged as a national priority and access to water a key ingredient to
unlock possibilities for satisfying livelihoods strategies for the rural communities and
Historical Disadvantaged Individual (HDI) farmers who do not have enough resource.
Without access to sufficient water for both domestic and productive uses in and around the
household, the rural poor and most vulnerable are excluded from options that would allow
them to diversify and secure their sources of livelihoods and thus reduce their poverty level.
The policy and practice of agriculture in South Africa has changed over the past two decades
to accommodate these resource poor farmers but the assistance is often not well-coordinated..
Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has been implementing Resource Poor Farmer
(RFP) policy that aimed at assisting resource poor farmers with funds to purchase water
infrastructure. DWS requested Agricultural Resource Council to undertake a study to review
the RFP policy with intention to enhance accessibility of funds and relaxing some
requirements needed during application process. The study results suggested improvement in
the application process and alignment of support towards resource poor farmers.