In a first, BCM’s villages get boost

BUFFALO City Metro villages in Tshabo, Dongwe and Mhlabathi are set to benefit from a R14-million cash injection by the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency, mayor Xola Pakati announced this week.

The multimillion-rand project will be the first of its kind in the metro and seeks to assist villagers with the acceleration of crop production and access to the market.

Pakati said it was important for the metro to take note of the fact it is not like other metros that mostly consist of urban areas.

“We have a sizeable number of villages and it is a mixture of both urban and rural so our plans should be able to take that into cogniSance when we deal with matters of development in the metro,” Pakati told journalists on Thursday before he made his maiden state of the metro address (Soma) at the Abbotsford Christian Centre on Thursday.

“We are working with the department of rural development and agrarian reform to deal with maize production in the villages.

“We have set aside R14-million for three sites of the rural economic development [RED hub] initiative,” Pakati said, which included Tshabo 1, 2 and 3 villages, and Dongwe and Mhlabathi villages.

As part of the metro’s 201718 priorities for agriculture and rural development, Pakati said 15 villages will be assisted with maize production during the next planting season.

“[We will] accelerate the farmer support programme by taking the burden of maintaining and servicing tractors, explore more opportunities in aquaculture and aquaponics,” Pakati added. — mamelag@ dispatch.co.za