By LULAMILE FENI and TYLER RIDDIN
The provincial department of rural development and agrarian reform (DRDAR) has allocated more than R21-million for the maintenance and renovation of 1403 dipping tanks across the province in the 2017-18 financial year.
This in an effort to address the dire shortage of dipping facilities in the province and curb animal diseases caused by ticks,
More than 330 of the tanks are located in the OR Tambo district.
Launching one of the facilities together with King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) mayor Dumani Zozo, DRDAR MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane on Friday said residents of Khambi village near Mthatha would no longer suffer losses due to their livestock getting injured while trekking on treacherous terrain to access dipping facilities.
The facility is the result of a partnership between KSD, the department and the local authority which allocated R118 000 for the construction of the dipping facility while the department provided the services of its technicians.
“As part of the department’s commercialisation strategy, the department is working to build feedlots in communal areas where livestock producers will fatten their animals and prepare them for commercial markets,” Qoboshiyane said.
He said the department was also providing a customised support in the form of “superior genetic material”, entrepreneurship opportunities, training and mentorship.
Qoboshiyane further said: “I am proud to see the work that has been done here. The farmers have built this facility themselves with the assistance of our DRDAR engineers and have been given the knowledge to maintain it themselves.
“For us it is a major achievement when communities can have these facilities which will help them move from subsistence farming to smallholding and commercial farming,” he said.
The dipping tank which will be used for the area’s 1400 cattle will also service eight other nearby villages.
Khambi Sondelani Farmers Association chairman Mvelane Fiko said the dipping facility would assist the community in taking care of their cattle with the purpose of selling them at a high value.
Local farmers said they found it hard to sell their cattle as they often got injured while being herded to a dipping facility located more than 6km away from the village.
In the first two quarters of the current financial year R1.1-million and R561691 were respectively spent by the department on the maintenance and renovation of dipping tanks.
Qoboshiyane said the aim of the project was to ensure the health of the animals in the province was good so that livestock owners and farmers could have an easier time commercialising their livestock in line with the agriculture economic transformation programme.
R21m dipping tank initiative a boost for E Cape farmers
The provincial department of rural development and agrarian reform (DRDAR) has allocated more than R21-million for the maintenance and renovation of 1403 dipping tanks across the province in the 2017-18 financial year.
This in an effort to address the dire shortage of dipping facilities in the province and curb animal diseases caused by ticks,
More than 330 of the tanks are located in the OR Tambo district.
Launching one of the facilities together with King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) mayor Dumani Zozo, DRDAR MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane on Friday said residents of Khambi village near Mthatha would no longer suffer losses due to their livestock getting injured while trekking on treacherous terrain to access dipping facilities.
The facility is the result of a partnership between KSD, the department and the local authority which allocated R118 000 for the construction of the dipping facility while the department provided the services of its technicians.
“As part of the department’s commercialisation strategy, the department is working to build feedlots in communal areas where livestock producers will fatten their animals and prepare them for commercial markets,” Qoboshiyane said.
He said the department was also providing a customised support in the form of “superior genetic material”, entrepreneurship opportunities, training and mentorship.
Qoboshiyane further said: “I am proud to see the work that has been done here. The farmers have built this facility themselves with the assistance of our DRDAR engineers and have been given the knowledge to maintain it themselves.
“For us it is a major achievement when communities can have these facilities which will help them move from subsistence farming to smallholding and commercial farming,” he said.
The dipping tank which will be used for the area’s 1400 cattle will also service eight other nearby villages.
Khambi Sondelani Farmers Association chairman Mvelane Fiko said the dipping facility would assist the community in taking care of their cattle with the purpose of selling them at a high value.
Local farmers said they found it hard to sell their cattle as they often got injured while being herded to a dipping facility located more than 6km away from the village.
In the first two quarters of the current financial year R1.1-million and R561691 were respectively spent by the department on the maintenance and renovation of dipping tanks.
Qoboshiyane said the aim of the project was to ensure the health of the animals in the province was good so that livestock owners and farmers could have an easier time commercialising their livestock in line with the agriculture economic transformation programme.
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