Agriculture MEC leads R100 million worth provincial cropping programme launch
The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture officially launched the R100 million worth 2025/26 Cropping Season in Bhaziya Village, Mthatha today.
The event, held during World Food Security Month, served as a platform for MEC for Agriculture, Nonceba Kontsiwe, to champion the role of youth in the sector and detail the provincial government's multi-pronged approach to tackling food insecurity and poverty.
MEC Kontsiwe, committed to encouraging and supporting young people to join agriculture, deliberately used the youth-owned agribusiness, Jay Jay Farming, in Mputi village near Mthatha, to showcase excellence and the opportunities available in the sector.
“We are here to showcase to the farmers that if they start something the department is here to support them and we are using these young farmers who have done a lot, to showcase excellence. I am glad to see young men and women working so hard”.
She further said agriculture was the only way to go and that young people needed to look at the sector as the economic driver of the province.
Kontsiwe addressed the notion that the sector is only for the uneducated, urging youth to stop treating it with disdain and highlighting that mentorship programmes exist to assist new entrants in producing good quality yields for better income.
Jay Jay Farming co-owner, Sipho Joyi, provided an example of this success, detailing the enterprise’s production of grains which include yellow and white maize and soya beans as well as vegetables like potatoes, cabbages, spinach and green mealies.
Joyi explained, “It has been seven years since we have been doing this. We have been through difficult terrains, but we stood up and continued. Today, at least we are able to put food on the table for ourselves and the families of those we have hired”.
The farm currently employs 12 permanent staff and up to 50 seasonal workers during planting and harvesting, also hiring ploughing fields from the community.
For the current season, they plan to plant 130 ha of soybeans (with support from Land Bank and DoA partner Ukhanyo Development Farmer) and 500 ha of maize (supported by the department) and 2 ha of potatoes (through a partnership with the DoA and Potato SA).
MEC Kontsiwe commended Jay Jay Farming for not relying solely on the department: “They did not only rely on the department, which is supporting them a lot, but they looked for assistance in the private sector for mentoring and other resources they needed. The key priority of the department is to fight and eradicate poverty totally and farmers like these are assisting us.”
The department’s goal is to expose farmers to the entire value chain and invest in them to become commercial producers.
Furthermore, the 2025/26 summer cropping season will cover approximately 23,000 hectares, comprising grain, vegetable and fodder crops. This builds on the success of the 2024/25 season, during which the Department successfully planted 22,584 hectares of maize, yielding more than 112,920 tons of grain. About 90% of the total targeted hectares are dedicated to grain production.
For more information, please contact:
Mr Atule Joka
Cell: 071 688 4231
Thozi Manyisana
Cell: 068 763 4268
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