project
31 May 2006
A remote area at Mt Frere in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality is to
benefit from a food security programme called massive food which is one of the
programmes developed by the Department of Agriculture to fight poverty in rural
areas. The project will be launched by MEC for Agriculture, Mr Gugile Nkwinti
on Friday, 2 June 2006.
This event will be held at Ncome village, about 45 km from Mt Frere,
commencing at 10 a.m. The Department of Agriculture has injected huge some of
money for this project since it started. In 2003, the Department gave the
project a tractor to be used in ploughing the maize in area of about 700
hectares. The Department of Agriculture again provided them with fencing
material and their project has been fenced.
Ms Phondi Hombile who is the project co-ordinator says she is excited about
the project because many people in the surrounding villages are going to
benefit from it. She said the area has fertile soil which is suitable for maize
production. âOne other thing that makes me happy is that this area is remote
and far away from town and one hardly finds development. But as the department
we have managed to bring a project that is going to help improve the lives of
these communities,â said Ms Honjiswa.
However Ms Hombile explained that it had not been smooth sailing. The
project has had its challenges, for instance one of suppliers which delivered
the material late. âWe had problems of co-operation between officials from
municipality and those from the Department of Agriculture. Beneficiaries were
sometimes reluctant to take charge of the project. But we have managed to
overcome all these problems and we are confident that the project will be
sustainable,â said Ms Hombile.
Enquiries:
Thando Sonjica
Tel: (040) 609 3563 /3965
Cell: 082 774 4768
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
31 May 2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za)
