North West Business 2023-24

OVERVIEW
Agriculture and agro-processing
South Africa’s “Texas” breeds superb cattle.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Citrus is making a comeback
in the North West.
Citrus trees, carefully protected, have been planted at two
schools as part of a training programme which doubles as a
carbon-offset project and is sponsored by Sun City.
A
revival of the citrus industry in the North West is one of the
intended results of a training programme for previously
unemployed young people sponsored by Sun City Resort.
Six young people from Moses Kotane Municipality
completed a 12-month Citrus Business Management learnership
through the Citrus Academy and 100 trees were planted at two
schools with the assistance of consulting group Sigma Industry South.
Sun City sponsored soil and water testing, soil preparation, irrigation
and fencing worth R130 000, as well as a vegetable garden at Sedibelo
with a borehole worth R155 000 at the schools, Sedibelo Secondary
School in Moruleng and Temogo Special Needs School in Mogwase.
Lwazi Mswelanto, Sun City Sustainability Manager, said, “These
trees will provide a crop for the schools to feed their pupils or for
them to sell to raise funds to buy things such as stationery. North
West Province is historically known as a citrus area, which is why
Sun City selected orange trees, so that we reduce the impact of
our operations through the carbon-dioxide minimisation provided
by trees, while at the same time reinvigorate farming within the
communities.” Although cattle and maize crops feature strongly in
any discussion of North West agriculture, a black-owned company
has succeeded on the back of
hard work in the citrus market.
Batlhako Temo Services, a former
co-operative which started life
cultivating sunflowers, is now a
Brits-based company exporting to
the Middle East and Taiwan. Over
the years, the group of farmers
has received support from the
Department of Agriculture, Rural
Development and Land Reform
and from the Small Enterprise
Development Agency (Seda)
which has enabled them to invest
in equipment and expand their
workforce.
The remarkable success of
doctor-turned-farmer Obakeng
Mfikwe is creating opportunities for
other emerging farmers through a
partnership between KMF Feedlot
and Abattoir and the Provincial
Government of the North West.
Mfikwe turned from medicine
to farming in 2010 and has since
built up a diverse and successful
enterprise, KMF Farm Holdings,
which ranges from poultry, feedlots
and grain to the breeding of Simbras,
Black Angus and Simmentalers.
As part of a drive to help more
farmers get connected to the more
profitable end of the value chain, a
beef beneficiation project is under
consideration. To be located in the
Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District,
a feasibility study is investigating
whether a public-private partnership
NORTH WEST BUSINESS 2023/24
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PHOTO: Sun City Resort