OVERVIEW Agriculture The
OVERVIEW Agriculture The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s top livestock provider. Rural Enterprise Development (RED) hubs are a key plank in the strategy of the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) to promote food security and employment creation. Small-scale farmers are supplied with equipment, infrastructure and training to help them engage with the mainstream economy. Four new RED hubs in the Eastern Cape have started producing maize and sorghum. The plan to expose smaller operators to the supply chain of big retail companies could be transformative in some areas. The DRDAR wants to increase the province’s GDP by 2% through this scheme. Almost all of the food in South Africa’s shops is produced by commercial farmers. The DRDAR is in the process of putting small farmers on its database. After a grading process, produce will then be sold on to Nicks Food, McCain Foods and Boxer Superstores. SECTOR INSIGHT Herbal and other natural products hold potential. • Rural Enterprise Development (RED) hubs are supporting smallscale farmers. Big infrastructure projects have been undertaken in rural areas of the eastern parts of the province by the Eastern Cape EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 42
OVERVIEW Rural Development Agency (ECRDA). Three training centres focus on agriculture in the province: Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry, Mpofu Training Centre (teaching mostly smallstock management), and the Tsolo Agricultural and Rural Development Institute, which is developing ties with Walter Sisulu University. The Dohne Agricultural Research Institute, near Stutterheim, developed a new breed of sheep, the Dohne merino. The provincial government hopes to find private investors who will take a majority share in two large tea estates that have failed. In their heyday, Magwa and Majola produced more than a million kilograms of tea but the current business rescue plan includes a proposal to plant additional crops such as avocado and macadamia nuts, one of the fastest growing subsectors in South African agriculture. The DRDAR will partner the private investor and local community in the projected project, and the provincial government has committed an amount of R116-million to get the scheme up and running. Natural products There is enormous potential in the Eastern Cape for the development of natural products, for which there is a growing international market. Herbal medicines and teas and non-toxic healing methods of all sorts are all very popular. Rural communities are being encouraged to plant products that can be sold into the natural products value chain. Various vegetables, Honeybush (Cyclopia) and Sceletium tortuosum (known locally as Kanna) are among the crops being cultivated. The Honeybush is already well known as a tea and the Kanna is deployed for mental and emotional wellness for many hundreds of years by local communities. TOMA-Now, an NGO that unlocks green business value, is working in communities to develop organic products that can find a market. Assets The Eastern Cape has more livestock than any other South African province, and produces a quarter of the nation’s milk. The province encompasses all seven of South Africa’s biomes, which means that practically every kind of crop or animal or crop can be cultivated or raised on the province’s 169 580 square kilometres of land. These include the wool-producing merino sheep and the mohairproducing Angora goat which thrive in the dry interior. Deciduous fruit (Langkloof), citrus fruit (Addo/Kirkwood) and chicory (Alexandria) are important parts of the province’s agricultural mix, but a feature of recent years has been towards diversification. Land-usage patterns have changed. Parts of the Amathole and Sarah Baartman districts that used to be sheep or pineapple farms are now stocked with game for the hunting and tourism markets. There are about 70 000 people employed on commercial farms across the Eastern Cape, with a further 436 000 dependent on smaller farms, mostly in the east. Improving the agricultural yield of the eastern part of the province is vital for improving food security and lifting many thousands of people out of poverty. The recent national drought has put extra pressure of rural communities. Crops The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s second-largest producer of citrus fruit. Oranges make up the vast majority of citrus products (80%), but the province is also well-known for its clementine and satsuma tangerines, as well as navel oranges. Deciduous fruits such as apples, pears and apricots are grown primarily in the Langkloof Valley. Another crop in which the Eastern Cape leads national production is chicory. The roots are used for beverages such as instant coffee, the leaves go into pet food and stock feed and unopened leaf pods become chicory endives, a sought-after salad ingredient. The province produces between 18 000 and 20 000 tons of wet root every year, mostly near the coast at Alexandria and inland from Port Alfred. The entire crop is consumed in South Africa. 43 EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018
