A new brand of super maize meal and samp, produced by rural farmers from Mqanduli, is a hit with a Buffalo City Metro retailer.
iSpaza Foods is the brand for the produce by the Mqanduli Rural Enterprise Development (RED) hub.
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane launched the first retail sale of these products on Human Rights Day at Nicks Foods Super Spar in King William’s Town.
Qoboshiyane said: “Economic freedom is not about slogans, but joining hands to add to the marketplace.”
He said if citizens did not work to produce their own food, they would always be consuming imported food at expensive prices.
The MEC encouraged those who received free houses from government to use their backyards to grow food items.
Sithembele Zibi, one of the producers from the Mqanduli RED hub, said: “We are delighted to have food produced in Mqanduli being sold at a big shop like Nicks Spar. This has changed our lives in that our children are getting employment opportunities and skills in our own backyard.”
Spar owner Kriton Efstratiou said the priority areas the farmers should meet are the right price for consumers; quality of their product and consistent supply. If they met all these then they could ensure sustainability in the retail sector.
The department has partnered with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) to train business entrepreneurs on the market.
ECDC chief executive Buhle Dlulane said: “Before we used to import this product, yet we’ve got the potential in our land, to produce this.”
Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency COO Navy Simukonda said there were four RED hubs in the province, each with a R45-million investment from the department.
The Mqanduli hub has six co-ops milling for maize. The Bizana and Ncorha hubs do the same with 16 and 10 co-ops respectively. The last hub is in Emahlati with seven co-ops working with sorghum.
Simukonda said these were state-of-the-art facilities and they planned to increase the number of participating co-ops. Through the plants they produce samp, mealies, animal feed and they can process and package these.
Each site has 1000 hectares of land.
“From 2016-17 they are going to up it, add another 1000 hectares on each site. All in all there are 397 jobs that have been created with a potential to employ more,” he said.
Local produce from rural farmers a huge hit with consumers
iSpaza Foods is the brand for the produce by the Mqanduli Rural Enterprise Development (RED) hub.
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane launched the first retail sale of these products on Human Rights Day at Nicks Foods Super Spar in King William’s Town.
Qoboshiyane said: “Economic freedom is not about slogans, but joining hands to add to the marketplace.”
He said if citizens did not work to produce their own food, they would always be consuming imported food at expensive prices.
The MEC encouraged those who received free houses from government to use their backyards to grow food items.
Sithembele Zibi, one of the producers from the Mqanduli RED hub, said: “We are delighted to have food produced in Mqanduli being sold at a big shop like Nicks Spar. This has changed our lives in that our children are getting employment opportunities and skills in our own backyard.”
Spar owner Kriton Efstratiou said the priority areas the farmers should meet are the right price for consumers; quality of their product and consistent supply. If they met all these then they could ensure sustainability in the retail sector.
The department has partnered with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) to train business entrepreneurs on the market.
ECDC chief executive Buhle Dlulane said: “Before we used to import this product, yet we’ve got the potential in our land, to produce this.”
Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency COO Navy Simukonda said there were four RED hubs in the province, each with a R45-million investment from the department.
The Mqanduli hub has six co-ops milling for maize. The Bizana and Ncorha hubs do the same with 16 and 10 co-ops respectively. The last hub is in Emahlati with seven co-ops working with sorghum.
Simukonda said these were state-of-the-art facilities and they planned to increase the number of participating co-ops. Through the plants they produce samp, mealies, animal feed and they can process and package these.
Each site has 1000 hectares of land.
“From 2016-17 they are going to up it, add another 1000 hectares on each site. All in all there are 397 jobs that have been created with a potential to employ more,” he said.
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