The National Development Agency bring hope in Keimos

The National Development Agency (NDA) today handed over the Eksteenskuil Agricultural Cooperative to the 14 beneficiaries who are part of 87 vineyard farmers in Keimos. The Cooperative is located in the Siyanda District Municipality under the Kai! Grib Local Municipality. 

Cooperative members received R1,808 263.00 from the NDA which went towards the establishment of 19 hectares of wine grapes, and the procurement of farming implements. Members were also assisted technically and on practical aspects of farming the different grape cultivars. 

“We are so encouraged by the commitment that members of this Cooperative have shown over the duration of our funding. This project is a sure recipe for success as there is already an existing market for products that will be produced by these Cooperative members”, said Ms Vuyelwa Nhlapo, Chief Executive Officer of the National Development Agency.

The 14 NDA beneficiaries have individual plots which have five to seven hectares of land. Each farmer is responsible for his/her own farm operations. The main objective of this project is to transfer technical and operational skills of running the wine grape farm to community members. The beneficiaries have planted wine grapes which will be sold to the Oranjerivier Wine Cellars to produce wine. The 14 farmers have recently trellised the vines and each of them had employed a minimum of 10 people depending on the size of the farm.

The handover ceremony included the Land Reform and Agricultural Development Organisation (LRADO) which received R1, 848 319.00 from the NDA. This is a land reform project whose main objective was to train and establish five livestock banks among land reform beneficiaries in Alheit, Blocuso, Topline, Brandvlei and Kenhardt. NDA funds went towards training the livestock bank project coordinators and farmers who entered the programme. The other funds went towards administration of the project, buying of the inputs and other equipment.

The project is located in two district municipalities of Siyanda and Namaqua. 

The initial farmers who started with the projects were 40 and the same process gets replicated every two years. The project has 60 farmers that have gone through the programme since 2009. 

How the Livestock Bank works: New entrants will borrow 10 ewes and one ram from the bank. This will be paid back in kind after the first breeding season. The bank retains its core stock numbers while it provides resource poor farmers to build up an asset base.

The total amount that the NDA has contributed towards agricultural poverty eradication projects in the Namaqua and Siyanda Districts is R12 million. 

Enquiries:
Clive Moses
NDA Northern Cape Provincial Manager
Tel: 053 831 4828 

Makgodu Tsehloane
Communications Manager
National Development Agency
Cell: 072 607 2360