MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Cyril Xaba, visited the Mizpah silo in the uMvoti Local Municipality where he was shown the silo's operations by Johan van der Walt who manages the plant.
He learnt that the Mizpah plant consists of 13 silos that can store up to 4 200 tons of maize per silo. At a maximum capacity, the silos can store and dry up to 49 000 tons of maize and beans. MEC Xaba said that as part of the commodity approach, it was critical that more of such facilities existed.
He said that often, storage facilities such as silos were not available in farming districts where they were most needed. Agriculture is an economic development catalyst and it is imperative to look into the development of farming infrastructure such as silos.
