 Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development |
The Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development reports that agriculture is a significant contributor to the economy and outlines ways in which the department is developing agriculture in the province.
The agricultural sector in the Northern Cape is growing in real terms and thus contributing towards provincial growth. The contribution amounted to R931-million in 1995 and grew to R1.351-million by 2006, an average growth rate of 4.1% per year. The agricultural sector in the Northern Cape grew faster than national agriculture during the same period.
Agriculture contributed 4.95% to the provincial GDP in 1995. This grew to 5.56% by 2006, indicating that the rest of the provincial economy grew slower than the 4.1% per annum growth in provincial agriculture. Provincial agriculture grew at more that 6% per annum each year for the period 2001 to 2005.
The fact that the agricultural sector in the Northern Cape grew faster than national agriculture for this period also means that provincial agriculture is gaining in its overall contribution to national agriculture. In 1995 the contribution from the Northern Cape agriculture to national agriculture was 4.46% and this increased to 4.95% by 2006.
The contribution to GDP from agriculture on a national basis increased from R20.850-billion in 1995 to R27.284-billion in 2006, an average growth rate of 2.8% per annum. The contribution in 1995 was 2.6% to the national GDP and this dropped to 2.3% by 2006, indicating that the rest of the economy grew faster than the 2.8% per annum of agriculture.
Growing the agricultural economy
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has undertaken the following interventions to broaden the province's agricultural ownership boundaries.
Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme
The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) was established to enhance the provision of comprehensive support services and to promote and facilitate agricultural development, targeting beneficiaries of the Land Reform and Agrarian Reforms programmes. From 2004/05 to 2007/08, 98 projects were funded through the programme, to the value of R97.924-million. As many as 8 816 people benefited from this.
The province made headway in the Land Redistribution Programme since 1994, allocating 1 061 638 hectares to 9 250 people. At the end of 2008, 632 273 hectares were distributed for agricultural development.
LandCare
LandCare is aimed at promoting the sustainable use and management of natural resources through
poverty alleviation in the form of projects that create jobs and promote food security. From 2004/05 to 2007/08, 55 projects were funded to the value of R12.072-million. As many as 1 282 jobs were created to the benefit of 3 169 people.
Food security
From 2004 to date, R1 236 672 was spent on starter packs for schools, households and clinics. A total of 47 food-security projects, to a total value of R3.9-million, were funded between 2004/05 and 2007/08, to the benefit of 408 beneficiaries.
Landscape of agriculture in the Northern Cape
Of the Northern Cape's 36.3 million square kilometres, 67% is used for extansive grazing and 11.8% for nature conservation. Less than 1% is arable land and only 140 000 hectares are irrigated. Farm income, according to main activity, leads with animal products (37%), followed by horticultural crops (29%) and field crops at (34%).
| Field crop | Area covered |
| Dry grapes | 11 000ha |
| Wine grapes | 12 500ha |
| Citrus | 1 500ha |
| Pistachio nuts | 1 000ha |
| Pecan nuts | 1 200ha |
| Olives | 1 000ha |
| Horticultural crop | Area covered | Average yield (tonnes/hectare) |
| Maize | 47 000ha | 10 |
| Wheat | 51 000ha | 6 |
| Barley | 8 000ha | 5.5 |
| Groundnuts | 7 500ha | 3 |
| Cotton | 5 000ha | 3.5 |
| Lucerne | 4 000ha | 20 |
Irrigation
The Orange and Vaal rivers have
imposed their majestic flow as the backbone of the approximately 140 000 hectares of intensive irrigation-drawn government-waterscheme channels. The main field and horticultural crop estimates are detailed in these two tables.
Trade and investment opportunities in irrigable agriculture
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development promotes a range of projects in irrigable agriculture in the Northern Cape. It has enjoyed considerable success in increasing production, broadening access, advancing market development/trade, and value-adding, which had been primarily aimed at the economic empowerment of emerging farmers.
A string of investment opportunities still exist from the allocation of 4 000 hectares of water rights to the following joint ventures with Previously Disadvantaged Individuals (PDIs):
- Pistachio-nut production in Prieska
- Table-grape production in the lower Orange River area
- Flower-bulb production at Nieuwoudtville
- Milling of grain products for direct marketing
- Carrot production and processing opportunities
- Development of date plantations at Pella and Witbank
- Table olives and olive-oil production units
- Export opportunities in lucerne products
- Processing of animal hides, skins and meat
- Organic meat production
- Vegetable production units for export
Investment opportunities in livestock
There are about 7.7 million sheep (27% of national flock), 522 000 goats (7.4% of national herd) and 492 000 cattle (3.5% of national herd) in the Northern Cape Province. The area also boasts three European Union-registered abattoirs, which means it is positioned to export a range of meats (ostrich, sheep, goat, lamb and game) to the EU.
Key livestock initiatives seeking investment through the Livestock Production and Development Programme (Massification) include:
- Beef production (Nguni Cattle Development Project, beef beneficiation, presidential bull/ heifer project, Bonsmara)
- Commercialisation of goats
- Sheep production (lamb, mutton, wool)
- Livestock-improvement programme
- Ostrich production
- Poultry
- Piggeries
