The growing number of financial services products introduced over the past few years into the South African agricultural sector indicates the changing factors affecting farming, not least of which is crime.
The latest offering, from a Bank of Athens-South Africa division, Wizzit Bank, proposes to reduce the increasing incidence of armed payroll robberies on farms by opening virtual bank accounts for workers.
On most farms, payments to workers are still mostly in cash.
Farm workers who up to now paid only in cash had been unable to benefit from cheaper charges for point-of-sale purchases. A cash withdrawal of R1000 ($145) at an ATM costs R13,95 ($2), while a card purchase costs a flat R1,99 (30 cents).Customers can also draw cash from a store at a flat R1,99.
Coetzee said that another feature of Wizzit's card, which is supported by international payment system MasterCard, was that it could be used anywhere in the world. "This is particularly important for regions like Mpumalanga and Limpopo, where many of the workers are from Mozambique and Zimbabwe and want to access their money back home."
He said farm workers could be signed up and issued with a debit-type ATM card within a few minutes. There was no minimum balance required, he said, and as Wizzit focused on bringing low-income earners into the banking system, it was exempt from the requirements of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
"It means neither farmers nor their workers have to carry around large amounts of cash," he said.
Business Day