Sixty eight young, unemployed agriculture candidates on Thursday graduated from the Northern Cape’s Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform’s two-year on-the-job training programme.
The programme was supported by the Northern Cape government to the tune of R7.2 million. MEC Mase |Manopole gave the keynote address at the graduation ceremony which took place at the 2023 Agriculture Graduate Symposium which was hosted by Raisins South Africa at the Vine Academy and model farm in Kakamas.
Manopole said: “When I started in the department some years ago I asked how many women, people with disabilities and youth do we have on our database?. A shocking revelation was that about 80% of the farmers in our province will be going on retirement soon and the majority are men. The young, women and people with disability are few.I realised then, that there is a need to accelerate recruitment and bring young people to the sector”.
About 72 unemployed graduates were inducted to the programme in April 2021 and 68 graduated from the programme. Four resigned from the programme..
Some of the interns shared their story on how they would save the little they receive to buy livestock and pay for their studies.
Gordon Ramaisa, an intern, said: “I managed to buy eight ewes and one ram of the Merino breed which I kept on the 36 hectare plot the mentor of Hangklip offered. I started rearing chickens. Bushveld chickens are bred for meat production which are sold to OVK and a small market in Colesburg”.
Tshireletso Maphula took an unprecedented step and managed to pay half of her outstanding study fees and further saved money to buy sheep and feed.
Goitsemodimo Melodi, said: “I produced maize and fresh vegetables from my backyard garden in 2021. I applied for the PESI voucher in order to erect a 40% shade net tunnel and bought seed. I also bought two boer goats and two Dorper sheep with the stipend”.
Raisins SA CEO, Ferdie Botha said: “Raisins South Africa made a decision to be a beacon of hope in the Northern Cape and we’ve made it our duty to ensure that graduate interns are placed within key sectors and with various partners in the agriculture sector.”
Extract – The Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform.
Comments are closed.