GEORGE NEWS - The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and the South Cape Economic Partnership (Scep), held an inter-governmental agriculture workshop for the Garden Route District last Tuesday, 9 April.
Representatives of governmental departments and municipalities in the Garden Route district attended the event at the Outeniqua Experimental Farm in George.
The objective was threefold: to start effective collaboration between stakeholders in the district, including the sharing of knowledge and resources, which will ultimately lead to higher productivity on farms; to orient farming activities commercially; and to strengthen the link between farming and other sectors of the district's economy. All of these factors will be of benefit to emerging farmers.
Many thought that commercial farmers and other essential government departments should be included in future discussions of this nature. The need for all municipalities to do more in-depth analysis of their available land was also identified.
Representing the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), Lianda Landman said the best way in which Seda can provide support to agriculture in the Garden Route district is through agro-processing. The organisation will assist people involved in agro-processing and/or exports to apply for funding at the national department of Trade and Industry and will help them attend various international agro-processing shows / exhibitions.
Representatives of the government departments who participated in the agriculture workshop.
Clyde Lamberts, deputy director for farmer support and development at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture in the Garden Route, said the Karoo community can be helped to face their challenges through a sharing of funds and expertise.
"Fifty percent of the national veld which is part of an extensive sheep production hub, got destroyed due to the prolonged recent drought, of which many parts do not have the potential to recover in the short term," he said. "But we need to find synergy, by identifying good products that are sustainable and resilient to grow."
Richard Dyantyi, Expanded Public Works manager at GRDM, said because council properties are often based within the centre of other stakeholders' properties, getting access to properties to deal with the clearing of alien invasive species is often a challenge. "The municipality needs to get the buy-in from these landowners to adhere to the National Environment Management Biodiversity Act, Section 76," said Dyantyi.
GRDM will share the draft plan with the stakeholders for their comments and the Breede Gouritz Catchment Management Agency (BGCMA) will assist GRDM to register for water rights of council properties.
Melanie Wilson, manager of Economic Development and Tourism, summarised the discussions of the day and the executive manager for Economic Development and Planning, Lusanda Menze, thanked Paul Hoffman of South Cape Economic Partnership for steering sound discussions throughout the session, as well as the colleagues from B-municipalities and government departments who took part and engaged in the discussions as key stakeholders of the agricultural sector.
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