Premier launches planting season in Umbumbulu
The aim of the programme is to help communities sustain themselves by using unutilised land to plant food.
THE provincial government is actively promoting agriculture as an economic driver, and Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube recently launched the Multi-Planting Season programme in Umbumbulu.
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Dube-Ncube said the aim of the programme is to help communities sustain themselves by using unutilised land to plant food. She said the government has identified agriculture as one of the key drivers of its Provincial Growth Development Plan.
“The Multi-Planting Season programme helps by providing the machinery and other tools, seeds, fertilizers, and assistance when marketing the products for the communities that want to sell their produce,” said Dube-Ncube.
As it is currently spring, she said farmers are encouraged to plant crops that thrive in summer, including mealies, beans, and leafy vegetables.
“We also put small farmers in touch with major supermarket chains who can buy the produce, and also international markets for exporting,” she said.
Some of the beneficiaries of the government’s assistance in Umbumbulu include Simunye Project, which received a sprinkler system and seeds to plant on its two-hectare land. The uBuhlebemvelo cooperative has received help to cultivate 3.2 hectares.
The cooperative also receives advice and guidance from agricultural experts. Livestock farmers were not left behind as chicken, pig, and egg farmers also received aid that ranged from infrastructure to animal feed.
One of the farmers who have benefited from this programme is Lucia Ngcongo, who has been in her own area to plant in Nkomazi under ward 100. Her farm produces mealies, beans, and other vegetables. She has given employment to 10 other people from her area.
Dube-Ncube urged communities from other areas to cut a pattern from what small-scale farmers are doing in Umbumbulu so that no one goes hungry.
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