The North West provincial government in South Africa has invested in a new packhouse for lucerne farmers at Taung, saying the facility is meant to lift the whole farming community in the area rather than a single business. The equipment has been installed at Jantjies Boerdery under what the government calls the Jantjies Boerdery Packhouse Project.
Sambatha, speaking for the provincial government, said the investment should not be viewed as support for one individual enterprise but as an intervention that will benefit the wider farming community in Taung. "There are a number of lucerne farmers in the area, and our vision is to position Taung as a provincial lucerne hub," he explained.
Lucerne, also known as alfalfa, is a high-protein forage crop grown mainly for animal feed, and Taung in the province's south has long been a lucerne-growing district. The new packhouse is intended to let farmers process and pack the crop closer to where it is grown.
The equipment provided to Jantjies Boerdery is meant to serve more than that one farm, Sambatha said, helping other growers in and around Taung to produce and process lucerne. The support is designed to increase production capacity and promote agro-processing.
The aim, the provincial government said, is to create opportunities for farmers to take part more meaningfully in the agricultural value chain, keeping more of the value of the crop in the hands of local producers instead of selling it unprocessed.
Sambatha encouraged lucerne farmers in the district to work together and make use of the opportunities that agro-processing offers, pooling their output through the shared facility.
Photo: Alan Hunt / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Source: Food for Mzansi
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