OUR TIMES Friday, 21 May 2010, p. 14
DRIVING FORCE... Former Simphiwe Jalisa is one of
taxi driver 43 emergIng farmers being helped by the provincial governments A5gISA pilot programme. So tar, 1 295 heifers and 43 bulls have been delivered to the
farms.
Boost
for
livestock
farming REPORTER
EMERGING
farmers in the Eastern Cape are gettinga R12-million helping hand from the provincialgovernment to boost livestockfarming in rural areas, according to a statement issued by Acceleratedand Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA). One of 43 farmers in the Elliot area to have benefited from such a pilot programnie is farmer Shnphiwe Jalisa; of Vulithuba Farm, who admits his present job is a big change after having spent most of his life as a taxi driver in Gauteng. Jalisa recently hosted a workshop of the Accelerated and Shared Growth-South Africa programme in the Eastern Cape, calledSakhisizwe. The pilot programme is part of AsgiSA ECs ambitious 20-year plan to facilitate the management of one million cattle in the former franskei, said the progranuuns provincialagricultureand agri-processingproject manager Thukela
Mashologu. Theproject will also involve creating processmgopportunities like abattoirs. Mashologu said after the success of the pilot programme it had been decided to up scale the project with an additional 107 farms being included in the next 12 months. Mashologu said a recent report by the University of the Free State showed that in the last five years, the Eastern Capes herd size stagnated between 13.5 miffion and 13.8 million,with about 40% of this in the
non-commercialsector. Project manager Luthando Ngaleka cxplained that a new step now being implemented involved integratingthe Thanskei areasfour co-operatives under a project management office to be set up next year. The co-operative will manage the processing activities and assist farmers with management, breeding, nutrition,herd health and marketing, Ngaleka said.