When Mzuzile Ngomfela and his 11 partners set up the Sizini Wool Growers Association, the idea was simply to make enough money to feed their families.
Wool was the only source of income to these farmers in the Mahlamvu administration area.
But there was a problem. The poor quality of their breed meant a poor quality clip.
However, the Mqanduli-based farmer folk are now making decent cash from wool sales and want to supply international markets in future. This was after their co-operative was given 24 genetically superior dohne merino rams to help improve their livestock by rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane.
The delivery of the rams was part of government’s commercial livestock improvement programme.
“We are selling our wool in Port Elizabeth,” said Ngomfela.
“There is a lot of money to be made from wool, but the problem has always been the standard of our wool because of our livestock is of poor quality.
“We want to sell it ourselves, even in markets like China. We need our own plant for washing the wool before it hits the market.”
He said the co-op had to send unprocessed wool directly to brokers who washed it and got it ready for sale.
Qoboshiyane yesterday handed farmers 82 dohne merino rams, 12 boer goats, eight nguni, brahman and bonsmara bulls and 10 bonsmara heifers to farmers from several villages across the OR Tambo district.
He was impressed with the way under-resourced communal farmers in the OR Tambo district had made R16.2-million in profit from wool and meat production last year.
Wool growers in rural Mqanduli had made around R2.7-million in sales of wool and red meat, said the MEC.
Mxambule Wool Growers Association secretary Jongile Mbasane, whose 50-member co-operative received two goats, three rams and a bull, said had been unable to crack the red meat market.
But this was about to change.
“We couldn’t sell meat because our breeds, especially the goats, were just of poor quality.”
He said agriculture was a way out of unemployment for rural villagers in the Mqanduli area. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Rams boost farmer livelihood
Wool was the only source of income to these farmers in the Mahlamvu administration area.
But there was a problem. The poor quality of their breed meant a poor quality clip.
However, the Mqanduli-based farmer folk are now making decent cash from wool sales and want to supply international markets in future. This was after their co-operative was given 24 genetically superior dohne merino rams to help improve their livestock by rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane.
The delivery of the rams was part of government’s commercial livestock improvement programme.
“We are selling our wool in Port Elizabeth,” said Ngomfela.
“There is a lot of money to be made from wool, but the problem has always been the standard of our wool because of our livestock is of poor quality.
“We want to sell it ourselves, even in markets like China. We need our own plant for washing the wool before it hits the market.”
He said the co-op had to send unprocessed wool directly to brokers who washed it and got it ready for sale.
Qoboshiyane yesterday handed farmers 82 dohne merino rams, 12 boer goats, eight nguni, brahman and bonsmara bulls and 10 bonsmara heifers to farmers from several villages across the OR Tambo district.
He was impressed with the way under-resourced communal farmers in the OR Tambo district had made R16.2-million in profit from wool and meat production last year.
Wool growers in rural Mqanduli had made around R2.7-million in sales of wool and red meat, said the MEC.
Mxambule Wool Growers Association secretary Jongile Mbasane, whose 50-member co-operative received two goats, three rams and a bull, said had been unable to crack the red meat market.
But this was about to change.
“We couldn’t sell meat because our breeds, especially the goats, were just of poor quality.”
He said agriculture was a way out of unemployment for rural villagers in the Mqanduli area. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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