13 August 2003

The Eastern Cape department of land affairs and agriculture, in conjunction with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has launched a ground-breaking rural empowerment project for small-scale livestock farmers.

The Cashmere Goat Project, launched in Magadla, has already created 15 full-time jobs for women who process the cashmere into yarn. Ten other women from the area have completed training to knit the yarn into clothes to be sold.

Magadla, which is outside Matatiele on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, is a cluster of rural villages near Maluti in the Alfred Nzo Municipality.

The department has donated 10 goats to the community for breeding purposes. The goats are from the government-owned association Zama-Zama. The association has also concluded an agreement with a Port Elizabeth-based businessman, through which he will act as a middleman between the project and textile companies to buy the wool.

The businessman will also mentor emerging farmers in the project, and provide technical expertise and training on combing and sorting the cashmere.

Handing over certificates to the 10 women on Monday, Tafelo Mohapi, an official from the department, described the project as a ground-breaking joint effort between the community and the private sector to establish a working partnership in agri-processing and to expand industrial agriculture in the area.

Source: BuaNews