Buying a farm, installing irrigation or expanding an established farming operation can require more money than a developing producer can raise independently. Commercial loans may be difficult to secure, particularly for farmers who have limited collateral and a short production history.
The Land Bank's Blended Finance Scheme (BFS) was established to address some of these financing barriers. It combines a conditional government grant with a loan from Land Bank, allowing qualifying farmers to finance agricultural projects without borrowing the entire amount commercially.
The arrangement is aimed at developing black-owned agricultural businesses that want to increase production, acquire assets and participate in established agricultural value chains.
However, there is a significant development for prospective applicants. Land Bank temporarily suspended new applications in September 2026 after the available grant allocation was committed. An additional R500 million was announced in October, but this money was allocated to qualifying applications already in the bank's pipeline, not to reopening the scheme.
1. What Is the Blended Finance Scheme?
The BFS is a partnership between Land Bank and the Department of Agriculture, established in October 2022.
The original programme was announced as a R3.2 billion government investment over ten years, with Land Bank providing complementary loan finance.
The scheme has two financial components:
The grant component: Government contributes conditional grant funding towards an approved agricultural project. This portion does not carry the same repayment obligation as a conventional loan, provided the beneficiary complies with the grant conditions.
The loan component: Land Bank provides the repayable financing. The applicant must qualify under the bank's lending requirements and repay the loan according to the agreed terms.
The grant cannot be obtained independently of the loan. A farmer must qualify for both components.
Does every farmer receive a 50% grant?
No fixed 50/50 arrangement should be assumed for every application.
The scheme's original launch was described as a 50% grant and 50% loan arrangement. However, the current Land Bank brochure states that grant contributions are subject to an approved sliding scale and are determined according to the business's funding requirements.
The grant is also subject to an economic-benefits assessment.
This means a farmer should request the actual grant-to-loan breakdown for the proposed project rather than calculate the expected grant using an assumed percentage.
2. Which Farming Activities Does the Scheme Support?
The BFS targets commercial development across primary agriculture and agricultural processing.
Land Bank's published brochure identifies the following commodity groups:
| Agricultural sectorExamples | |
| Grains and oilseeds | Maize, wheat and soybeans |
| Fruits and nuts | Citrus, avocados and macadamias |
| Livestock | Poultry, piggeries and red meat |
| Other food sectors | Dairy, sugarcane and vegetables |
| Aquaculture | Commercial fish production |
| Wool and mohair | Sheep and fibre production |
| Industrial crops | Cotton |
The programme also considers commercially viable agricultural value-chain and processing activities.
A vegetable producer looking to expand production, a poultry business investing in infrastructure or a macadamia operation increasing its planted area could investigate whether its project fits the scheme's requirements.
Being involved in a listed commodity does not automatically qualify a farmer. The business must also satisfy the ownership, commercial viability and economic-development requirements.
3. What Can the Funding Be Used For?
The scheme is not restricted to farmers who want to purchase agricultural inputs.
Its funding scope includes land acquisition, business expansion, machinery, infrastructure and production finance.
Purchasing agricultural land
Qualifying farmers can seek support for acquiring agricultural property.
The proposed land purchase must form part of a commercially viable farming enterprise and meet the scheme's assessment requirements.
Expanding an existing farm
A producer already operating a farming business may require capital to increase production.
This could involve extending a planted area, expanding livestock facilities or improving infrastructure that limits production capacity.
Machinery and infrastructure
Approved investments may include tractors, agricultural machinery, irrigation systems, storage facilities and other capital equipment.
The application should connect the proposed purchase to a defined production requirement.
Working capital and production expenses
The scheme also provides for working capital and production finance.
This can support qualifying operating requirements associated with agricultural production.
Land Bank assesses the proposed expenditure and determines the appropriate financing arrangement.
4. Can Farmers Without Title Deeds Apply?
Land ownership is not the only way to establish access to agricultural property.
One of the important provisions in the original government announcement is that certain long-term lease agreements, including qualifying Permission to Occupy (PTO) arrangements, can be accepted as adequate security.
However, the lease must extend beyond the financing period.
This provision is particularly relevant to farmers operating on communal or state-owned land who do not hold conventional freehold title deeds.
For example, a farmer with a recognised long-term land-use agreement may be able to demonstrate sufficient tenure security for a proposed project, even without owning the property.
This does not mean that every communal arrangement or informal permission to occupy automatically qualifies. Land Bank must assess the legal documentation and determine whether it meets the scheme's requirements.
5. Who Qualifies for Blended Finance?
The programme is primarily intended for qualifying black South African agricultural producers and majority black-owned farming enterprises.
According to the current Land Bank brochure, applicants must meet several requirements.
These include:
- South African citizenship and a valid identity document, or an appropriately registered business entity.
- Compliance with the definition of black South African under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act.
- A black-owned and managed agricultural enterprise.
- Commercial viability in a commodity covered by the scheme.
- Compliance with Land Bank's lending requirements.
- Meeting the Department of Agriculture's economic-benefits criteria.
Joint ventures must also meet the programme's ownership and voting-control conditions.
The brochure specifically excludes joint ventures in which targeted producers exercise less than 60% ownership and voting rights.
Farmworker participation
Farmworker participation is another consideration.
The scheme requires enterprises to provide for a 10% farmworker profit-sharing arrangement.
Joint ventures involving farmworkers must also demonstrate that workers participate in the management of the operation.
The programme is therefore concerned with more than simply providing finance to purchase agricultural equipment. Ownership, participation and the distribution of economic benefits form part of its assessment.
Who cannot apply?
The Land Bank brochure identifies exclusions, including:
- Foreign nationals and illegal immigrants.
- Part-time producers.
- Politicians in public office, subject to a 12-month cooling-off period.
- Government and state-owned enterprise employees, subject to a 24-month cooling-off period.
- Applicants who mismanaged previous government support.
- Certain joint ventures that fail the ownership, voting-rights or farmworker-management requirements.
- Businesses without the required farmworker profit-sharing arrangements.
- Applications intended to settle or refinance existing debt.
The bank also applies its reputational, lending and compliance policies when evaluating applicants.
6. How Does Land Bank Decide Which Projects Receive Grants?
The scheme uses an economic-benefits criteria scorecard to assess proposed projects.
The current Land Bank brochure identifies the following assessment areas:
- Ownership and transformation.
- Inclusivity.
- The applicant's own contribution, whether financial or non-financial.
- Employment creation.
- Contribution to food security.
- Sustainable development.
- Localisation.
- Access to markets.
Applicants must achieve at least 20 points out of 50 to qualify for the conditional grant assessment.
However, reaching the minimum score does not automatically secure funding. The applicant must also qualify for the loan component and satisfy Land Bank's credit requirements.
A project that demonstrates realistic production expansion, employment opportunities and credible market arrangements is better positioned to explain its developmental value than one that simply requests money for machinery.
7. Is the Blended Finance Scheme Accepting Applications in November 2026?
<text color="danger" weight="semibold">New applications are suspended as at 6 November 2026.</text>
This is the most important current development for farmers considering the programme.
Land Bank announced the suspension in September 2026 after its R325 million grant allocation for the 2026/27 financial year had been committed.
On 8 October 2026, the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development agreed to provide an additional R500 million in grant funding for the scheme.
However, Land Bank clarified on 16 October that the additional money would support qualifying transactions already in its application and credit-assessment pipeline.
It would not reopen applications from new farmers.
The bank said priority would be given to qualifying transactions that had already met disbursement requirements, followed by approved transactions awaiting final contractual arrangements and applications undergoing credit assessment.
Being in the existing application pipeline does not guarantee approval or payment.
When could applications reopen?
Land Bank has indicated that a further R325 million annual grant allocation is expected for the 2027/28 financial year.
The bank intends to communicate when sufficient grant resources become available to accept new applications.
However, no confirmed reopening date had been announced by 6 November 2026.
Farmers should therefore not advertise the scheme as an open funding opportunity for new applicants.
8. What Should Farmers Do While Applications Are Suspended?
The suspension does not mean that farmers should abandon plans to expand their agricultural operations.
Land Bank has confirmed that it continues to provide conventional agricultural finance through 100% repayable loans to qualifying applicants.
Farmers interested in the BFS can also use this period to establish whether their businesses meet the scheme's requirements.
Useful preparations include obtaining current supplier quotations, organising land-tenure documents, calculating production costs, reviewing farmworker participation arrangements and preparing realistic cash-flow projections.
Existing BFS applicants should contact their designated Land Bank relationship managers to establish the status of their applications and any outstanding requirements.
Prospective applicants should monitor official announcements rather than pay intermediaries who promise access to suspended funding.
9. Where Can Farmers Find the Official Guidelines?
The following sources provide the programme's published requirements and current funding information.
Land Bank
Land Bank – Blended Finance Scheme — Programme description, funding objectives and access information.
Land Bank – Blended Finance Scheme Brochure — Commodity coverage, qualifying criteria, exclusions, funding scope and economic-benefits scorecard.
Land Bank – Contact Us — Branches and financing enquiries.
Land Bank – 2026 Media Statements — Current announcements concerning the funding suspension and additional grant allocation.
Government
South African Government – Original BFS Launch Announcement, 24 October 2022 — Original programme objectives, targeted commodities, beneficiary criteria and land-tenure provisions.
Department of Agriculture — Agricultural development programmes and policy information.
Department of Land Reform and Rural Development — Land-reform and rural-development support.
Written by Siphesihle Zangwa, researcher, University of Mpumalanga. Cleaned up and edited by Samukelo Moloko, publisher, MzansiFarm. Updated 6 November 2026.
