Durban — The eThekwini Municipality’s R55 million investment in its Agribusiness Master Plan is beginning to yield positive results.
That was according to the municipality after the executive committee, led by mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, conducted an oversight visit to various agri-parks that have been supported by the municipality.
The committee visited the agri-parks on Wednesday to assess progress since the municipality implemented the eThekwini Agribusiness Master Plan in February 2020.
Kaunda said it was encouraging to see that the municipality’s investment into five key commodities has unlocked over 1 300 new jobs with a total of 49 small, medium, and micro enterprises benefiting from the agribusiness programme.
“With the growing importance of the agriculture sector in South Africa, the municipality took an informed decision to invest in five key commodities mainly vegetables, sheep, poultry, piggeries, and cannabis. The municipality then purchased farms for the implementation of this programme,” Kaunda said.
“It is with excitement that we can report that the Cato Ridge Agri-Park that is producing chicken and lamb now has a capacity of producing over 30 000 chickens per cycle and is able to accommodate 100 lambs per three-month cycle.
“Good progress has also been made in the Cottonland Agri-Park which provides contract grower opportunities for small-scale egg producers within eThekwini.”
The mayor said that to further support smallholder farmers, the municipality embarked on a Mechanisation Support Programme.
“Under this programme, the municipality procured seven tractors with over 750 direct beneficiaries. We are encouraged to see that these tractors are put to good use as 2 800 hectares were ploughed in the past three years. However, this progress of R2 million in turnover from these projects and the 1 300 jobs created does not mean that we can now rest on (our) laurels; over the next 10 years our focus will be on sustaining this good work and doubling the turnover and jobs created,” Kaunda said.
Daily News