This article may contain graphic and/or adult content unsuitable for minors and sensitive readers.
In a historic day for agriculture in the Eastern Cape, all stakeholders in the industry will meet in Queenstown on Friday to establish the Eastern Cape Agricultural Confederation.
The confederation, which has been several years in the making, sees the coming together of among others, Agric Eastern Cape, the African Farmers Association of South Africa, the Red Meat Producers Association as well as Citrus SA.
The aim of the Confederation is to represent and further the interests of all agricultural stakeholders or sectors in the Eastern Cape.
The chairperson of AFASA Eastern Cape, Xolile Ngqameni, says the establishment of ECACON is the result of years of engagement with established commercial farmers in the province.
"Over the years we have gathered quite a lot of understanding of each other and we have come to a point as I speak to be confident to say "yes we can cooperate and work together" and at the end of the day our ultimate objective is to have a single voice of farmers in this province and in this country in the end of the day" Ngqameni said.
The chairperson of Agri Eastern Cape, Ernest Pringle, says the idea behind the establishment of ECACON is to get a united voice for agriculture in the province.
He says they've been concerned for some time that one of the most important industries in the province is largely being ignored which he says is because of the fragmentation of the industry.
"For the last couple of years we have been meeting with the leaders of various agricultural organisations and have managed through an agreement with them to actually create a body like ECACON which represents all the stakeholders in agriculture and we are hoping that through that body we will be able to actually have a meaningful say in how agriculture will be handled in this province" Pringle said
Meanwhile the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform says the land reform programme in the Eastern Cape has been going well.
That's according to the deputy director general for land reform administration, Vusi Mahlangu, who was in the province on Wednesday for the historic and symbolic hand over of the key to a farm now owned by citrus farm workers.
Speaking to Algoa FM News, Mahlangu said one of the best land programmes is the sugar beet project in the Cradock area which will be supporting a bio-fuel initiative.
"The Eastern Cape is doing very well in terms of the land reform and we have got a lot interest from the communities in the Cradock area and elsewhere we are going to participate in the scheme who are going to benefit in terms of income generations, training and other products that comes with land reform. We are doing very well" Mahlangu said.
