Nufarmer Africa
COMMUNAL WOOLGROWERS’ KNOCK ON GOVERNMENT’ S DOOR TO ASSIST WITH CHALLENGES
Lawrence Maduna from Sterkspruit delivered his chairman’ s report.
The annual East Cape communal woolgrowers’ association( ECCWGA) congress in session.
Communal woolgrowers farming with sheep in the
Province of Legends are struggling with major threats such as stock and wool theft, predation and stray dogs, bio-security and climate change, which is producing severe droughts.“ Only by standing together and with government’ s assistance, can these challenges be faced,” a spokesperson said.
Approximately 1 000 attendees packed the FALAKAHLA Administrative area in Idutwya on 24 August 2017 to attend the annual East Cape communal woolgrowers’ association( ECCWGA) congress.
It was the 6th year that the 5 communal regions of the NWGA combine their efforts to hold such an event. NWGA leadership consisting of Guillau du Toit, national chairman, Herman Hugo, national vice chairman( commercial), Sipiwo Makinana, national vice( communal), HB van der Walt( EC chairman), Machiel Odendaal( MP chairman), Othard Klingenberg( KZN chairman) and full staff component from NWGA head office in Port Elizabeth attended the congress.
Congress expressed gratitude towards the NWGA for assisting wool farmers in the former homelands of Transkei and Ciskei for the past 20 years, acquire the necessary skills for the formal market.
Lawrence Maduna from Sterkspruit delivered his chairman’ s report and elaborated on infrastructure received the past year, shearing and shearer training conducted, regional and inter regional flock competitions and the projected impact of receiving 3 037 quality improved rams, of which 26 came from the emerging breeders and 22 from the veld ram club.“ We are truly grateful to be in this unique situation whereby our very own communal breeders can contribute towards genetic improvement of flocks,” said Maduna.
For the past 15 years, almost 45 000 quality rams have been introduced to communal flocks, showing enormous growth in wool production from 222 610kg in 1996 / 97 to 5 744 961kg the past season with an estimated value of R299 882 007 being sold on the formal market. This income is a result of both a dramatic increase in volume, but certainly also due to higher levels in wool price, which is a perfect example of wool’ s ability to create wealth in extensive rural farming areas.
As the 5-year contract with Dept. Rural Development and Land Reform( DRLDR) has reached the end and the NWGA’ s many attempts to renew it for a further 5 years, he urged government to assist farmers with the continuation of the programme and being part of this success story.
Honourable Mayor Cllr S Janda of the Mbhashe Local Municipality referred to“ sheep” as the goldmine of Mbashe district and was impressed with the income that farmers are receiving from sheep.
He pledged assistance with dip for red lice and that a budget had been assigned to it. To curb wool and stock theft, he called for the use of 1 or 2 shearing sheds to serve as areas of storage for wool. The improvement of infrastructure is a priority in the planning development of the Mayor.
Stock and wool theft Congress is deeply troubled by stock and wool theft, which seems to be growing unabated resulting in great losses to the farmers. Tattooing, which would have been a deterrent, is hindered by incomplete equipment, if any equipment at all! Congress feels that law-enforcement is not protecting the farmers adequately and that there are insufficient bylaws to regulate wool speculation in the communal areas.
A livestock tracking device that is placed on the sheep with a secure harness and monitors the movement of livestock was demonstrated. Farmers receive automatic alerts when movement are compromised. Good cell phone reception is critical in this product and depends on a service provider that may offer best coverage.
Value adding through wool processing While rural inhabitants are battling with unemployment, particularly for youth, 90 % of SA clip is exported as a raw product. The value of our wool is further eroded by speculators who roam around exploiting vulnerable farmers. Congress believes that processing wool locally will contribute a great deal towards fighting unemployment, skills development and stimulation of economic activity in our area.
Congress urges government to invest towards establishing a wool processing plant, accessible to the communal farmers, benefiting communal farmers. Currently there are two wool processing plants left in SA. They are both situated in Uitenhage.
The reason for the lack of processing in SA is in the main due to unfair competition from China, India and Eastern Europe. In China the processing plants are subsidised by the Chinese government. They also benefit from very cheap labour. Unfortunately in SA there are no government subsidies to assist processors.
Land ownership Because of lack of land ownership in communal areas, farmers find it difficult to progress towards farming commercially. Excessive number of livestock in limited communal grazing land leads to overgrazing, soil erosion, thus limiting the potential of communal farmers. Congress requests progress report from Dept. Rural Development and Land Reform( DRDLR) concerning land distribution towards wool farmers. Congress further requests a minimum of 5 farms( 5000 ha) per region per annum and a farm owned by black farmers, dedicated to breeding rams used in the exchange programme.
Infrastructure Congress is grateful to government and Cape Wools SA( CWSA) for construction, equipment and distribution of shearing sheds, which have contributed greatly towards reducing contamination and improving quality of wool clip. However, the demand still outstrips the supply.
In order to optimize the use of communal land, Congress urges government and CWSA to accelerate the building and renovation of more shearing sheds, fencing of grazing camps, scooping of dams.
From an Extract from Lawrence Maduna, chairman’ s report it is said that during the past year, 3 shearing sheds funded by DRDLR was built to the value of R1 950. Another one, funded by a bank was built in Mount Fletcher.
CWSA chairman George de Kock thanked the NWGA for assisting farmers to produce more and better wool each year and thanked farmers for producing such good quality wool under most difficult farming conditions.“ Wool of such quality that is essential in the fabrication of wool suits, that is where communal wool is destined, said De Kock.
Ram breeding Congress acknowledges and appreciates the progress made in the ram exchange program. However, the ram-ewe ratio is still far too low.
Congress urges that roll-out of this program must be accelerated to meet the optimal ram-ewe ratio by increasing the number of rams issued per year.
Additional farms owned by communal farmers must be commissioned to produce high quality rams as beneficiaries of the program. NWGA
16 Nufarmer Africa | November / December 2017