Eastern Cape Business 2023-24

OVERVIEW
Agriculture and agro-processing
A black-owned dairy has won a major contract.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Magwa Tea Estate is
functioning again.
Danone has signed a R75-million agreement with Ncora
Dairy in Keiskammahoek. The 600ha dairy is part of the
Amadlelo Agri group, a majority black-owned producer
of raw milk, and the investment will see 2 400 dairy cows
producing 10.5-million litres of milk.
The farm employs 35 people and 1 200 people are beneficiaries
of the dairy’s operations. The first milking on the farm began in
2012 after the irrigation, parlour, roads and fencing were funded by
the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian
Reform (DRDAR).
The CEO of Amadlelo Agri, Simpiwe Somdyala, sees other benefits
accruing from the investment: “I look forward to this partnership and
the value that this will bring in upskilling us to be a zero-carbonemission-generating
farm.”
The Eastern Cape provides approximately a quarter of South Africa’s
milk and the industry is further expanding as producers are favouring
high-rainfall coastal areas such as the Tsitsikamma region.
The rich natural grasslands of the Eastern Cape have the potential
to produce high-value organic meat, a product that is increasingly
popular in health-conscious international markets.
There are about 70 000 people employed on commercial farms
across the Eastern Cape, with a further 436 000 people dependent on
smaller farms, mostly in the east.
Deciduous fruits such as apples, pears and apricots are grown
primarily in the Langkloof Valley. Another crop in which the Eastern
Cape leads national production is chicory. The province’s pineapple
crop is grown in the same part
of the Sunshine Coast that
produces chicory.
The Eastern Cape holds 21%
of the country’s cattle (about
3.2-million), 28% of its sheep
(seven-million) and 46% of its goats,
making it the largest livestock
province by some margin.
The Sundays River Valley
is South Africa’s biggest citrus
producer from a defined area.
The valley’s harvest in 2021 was
30.5-million cartons and this
is anticipated to increase to
40-million by 2026. The province
as a whole is the country’s secondlargest
cultivator of citrus.
The Sundays River Valley
irrigation scheme was started
in 1920s. Darlington Dam (also
known as Lake Mentz) was built
on the river and a series of canals
were constructed to supply water
to farms from Kirkwood at the
upper end of the valley to Addo.
More than 4 000 people are
employed in citrus in the Sundays
River area, with that figure more
than doubling in the picking and
packing season. Further west,
there is about 6 600ha of land
under citrus in the Gamtoos Valley,
which exports about nine-million
cartons every year.
More than 100 farmers are
dependent on the Kouga Dam for
EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2023/24
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