Rural Development and Land Reform Minister, Gugile Nkwinti, together with the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development Lydia Johnson, embarked on a "walkabout" at the Comprehensive Rural Development programme (CRDP) site at Keatsdrift, Umsinga, on Monday, 26 April 2010.
Umsinga has been identified as one of the pilot sites for implementing the rural development strategy in KwaZulu-Natal. The purpose of the CRDP "walkabout" by Minister Nkwinti and MEC Johnson was to assess the social and economic development challenges and opportunities identified for Umsinga, inspect progress on the projects that have emanated from the needs identified by the community and engage the community of Umsinga on the implementation of the CRDP in their area.
Minister Nkwinti and MEC Johnson first held a briefing with community leaders to update them on the Rural Development programme for Umsinga and then visited three identified poor households and a fencing project for the KwaNxamalala community. They engaged the families on their plights and assured them of government's commitment to help them.
Minister Nkwinti told his department's officials to make sure that they absorb each one of these family members in the CRDP programmes that are currently running at Umsinga, which is an immediate intervention to offer employment and alleviate the grinding poverty that has plagued them for years.
He told the local chief that CRDP is for everyone, therefore all people should benefit. Amongst the many projects that will take place at Umsinga the minister also mentioned the paving of walk paths. This will encompass training and skills transfer, which will be useful to the locals even long after the government has left the area.
The government will be at Umsinga for a period of two years, offering employment opportunities while developing the area. MEC responsible for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development in the province, Mrs L Johnson encouraged the people of Umsinga to embrace the partnership that the government has formed with them.
She also spoke on the role of agriculture and how the province will assist with putting up the necessary infrastructure for agricultural activities, like putting up irrigation schemes for cultivation of larger parcels of land, offering veterinary services for goat farming and providing seeds for the One Home One garden Campaign to fight food insecurity.
Plans for the official launch of the CRDP pilot site at Umsinga are already afoot and the minister envisages that it should be able to happen within the next 100 days.
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Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
26 April 2010
Source: Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
(http://agriculture.kzntl.gov.za/)
