The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has unveiled full details of its new Agro-Processing Support Scheme (APSS) after Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies, announced in parliament on Tuesday that the scheme was ready to be rolled out.
An amount of R1 billion has been earmarked to fund the scheme in the current financial year, according to a dti spokesperson who said the scheme was aimed at stimulating investment in the sector.
Davies said: “The agro-processing sector is an important labour-intensive sector prioritised in the Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap). The incentive will support both brown and greenfield investments, encourage investment in up- and downstream support services, and expansion of infrastructure to be used by farmers and agro-processors.”
According to the dti, agro-processing is the largest single subsector in manufacturing and has shown rapid growth in sales and employment over the past 15 years.
