Citrus farm workers become farm owners

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Thirty-eight farm workers from the citrus growing Sunday's River Valley near Kirkwood are today the proud owners of a 117 hectare farm.

The workers, who are members of the Sundays River Farming Trust established in 2005, shelled out R7m of their own money as part payment for the farm, Isiphambili.

The remaining R4m was a loan, at favourable rates, from the Sunday River Citrus Company, which has been providing mentorship and training programme to the workers, who are leasing four farms owned by the government.

The spokesperson for the Trust, Buyiswa Ndyenga, says their fairy-tale story will be complete with full ownership of the land or if government considers a long lease.

"We are (a) successful BEE farm because we chose the corrector mentors and management team. Also (the) hard work of the beneficiaries played a big role in our success. Now, we ask the government to transfer the land to us or government must give us a long term lease because we have proven that we are sustainable, hard workers," she said.

Meanwhile, the deputy director general of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Vusi Mahlangu, says the story of the Sunday River Farming Trust should be replicated across the country.

"It is a true reflection of a success story between the government and a mentorship programme under the programme called Recapitalisation and Development, where we get mentors to mentor our beneficiaries, make sure that all the farms are productive and that beneficiaries can produce for income, have food security and also for training so that in five years when the government and the mentors withdraw the farm is stable, productive and the beneficiaries have land," he said.

The Sundays River Citrus Company produces about 10% of the total citrus exports from South Africa, which is the world's third largest exporter of citrus products.

The importance of the contribution from farms managed by the Trust to the export content of the Sunday River Citrus Company was highlighted by managing director, Ken Nieuwenhuizen.

"The Sundays River Farming Trust, as a grower member of SRCC, is a very significant player in our business. They are producing on 277ha of citrus land and this last year they will probably export around 300 000 cartons of citrus. So, in the valley terms and in Sundays River Citrus Company terms they're a significant farming unit and they play an important role in our business," said Nieuwenhuizen.