New nut farm taking off
Jobs for Wild Coast villagers
ANEW multimillionrand Macadamia farm in the rural hinterland of Willowvale has brought fresh hope for several villages.
Residents from the villages along the Wild Coast have in the past been forced to trek to urban parts of the country to find work.
But now the AmaJingqi Macadamia Farm in Shixini administrative area, about 30m outside Willowvale, promises to create jobs. The farm is the second of its kind in the province – the other one is the Ncera Macadamia Farm near East London.
Yesterday, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana and rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane breezed into rural Shixini to formally launch the project.
One of the employees at the farm, Nonkayiso Ndesi said she had battled to secure a proper job to help take care of her family after she lost her position as a security guard in Cape Town a few years ago.
She said as a result of her new job, igxothiwe ikati eziko (loosely translated is ‘poverty has been kicked out of my home’).
East Cape Macadamia director Mkhululi Pakade, who was instrumental in designing the business model for the project, said 25 000 Macadamia trees had been planted at AmaJingqi farm since November last year.
“About 100ha have already been cultivated. In fact, we cover about 300ha in each project,” he said.
The trees were reportedly bought from the Ncera farm, which boasts a five-star nursery. It will take four years for the trees to start bearing fruit, which will be sold to international markets.
The AmaJingqi community own a 51% stake in the farm, while the rest of the shareholding belongs to private sector groups.
The Department of Trade and Industry has pumped about R40-million into the project, while the Amathole district and Mbashe local municipalities contributed about R1.2-million.
The farm is located on fields owned by residents of the 12 villages under the AmaJingqi Tribal Authority.
Qoboshiyane said the establishment of the farm had created as many as 300 job opportunities, adding there were plans to create factories where the nuts could be processed before being exported.
Zokwana said the nuts had a high value.
“There is a huge market internationally, and the crop [does well] on the coast.” — sikhon@dispatch.co.za