Northern Cape’s Emerging Livestock Farmers benefits from Training

26 October 2004

The Department of Agriculture and Land Reform is hosting a two-day training workshop for emerging farmers on veld management for livestock farming at the Vaalharts Research station near Jan Kempdorp. The training workshop commenced this morning and will end tomorrow - 27 October 2004. The training is being attended by 30 farmers in the Frances Baard region and will later be extended to other districts.

The Training sessions will arm emerging farmers with the necessary skills and knowledge on the sustainable use of land, best practices in managing natural grazing and identifying toxic plants.

The emerging farmers that are being trained are mainly beneficiaries of government’s land redistribution programmes. The training programme is being carried out in support of the Department’s Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) that is aimed at on-and-off farm support for emerging farmers and restituted communities through infrastructure development and training.

The veld management training is to be followed by an extensive training session on livestock farming that is aimed at the promotion of sustainable agriculture practices. The Department has also lined-up a series of training sessions for emerging farmers in support of entrepreneurial development through service delivery.

Issued by the Department of Agriculture and Land Reform

For more information contact: Sipho Mbaqa @ 072 99 61 620