The Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) will this weekend host two important events that are aimed at ensuring that rural people, especially those with land don’t go to bed on a stomach.
In the first event, MEC Zoleka Capa will host national Minister for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Tina Joemat-Pettersson on the unveiling of the province’s crop production plan, which is part of the Zero Hunger Campaign.
Minister Joemat-Pettersson, following her pledge to assist the province to plough 300 000 ha of land this year, will outline to the farmers, members of the public and the media how her department working with DRDAR will achieve this milestone.
MEC Capa in her plan will also outline how the 75 tractors from the DAFF will be spread across the Province in a bid to ensure food security. In the second event, President Jacob Zuma in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative (MRDI), which aims at equipping communities in the rural areas to develop themselves, will be in the Chris Hani District Municipality to harvest maize.
Having started in Nkandla and Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, the MRDI is chaired by President Zuma in his capacity as a community member and was successfully launched in the province in Qumbu in November last year.
The President will be visiting the province for the third time as the chairperson of MRDI after he visited Peddie and Butterwoth in April 29 where tractors and livestock were donated. Zuma will be joined by Capa, Joemat-Pettersson, Premier Noxolo Kiviet and other stakeholders in the harvesting of 700ha of maize in Qhumanco village in Cofimvaba.
The entourage will then visit the revamped Ncora Irrigation Scheme, where the DRDAR has spent R28 million to ensure that it was functioning. The DRDAR will also donate livestock to the community as part of its livestock improvement programme that is aimed at recuperating the quality of livestock in the province.
Members of the media are invited to form part of these events that are aimed at developing people lives.
Details of the events:
Date: Saturday, 21 July 2012
Venue: Bhisho Showgrounds (next to the stadium)
Time: 10h00
Date: Sunday, 22 July 2012
Venue: Ncora Irrigation Scheme
Time: 9h00
Enquiries:
Spokesperson
Ayabulela Ngoqo
Cell: 071 603 3235
Thozi Manyisana
Cell: 082 494 3600
Initiatives to bring food to the hungry to be unveiled
Province
