Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC, Mlibo Qoboshiyane will inspect the status of the construction of aquaculture tunnels funded by his department through a partnership with Graaf-Reinet-based Karoo Catch Farm.
The Department said that the visit on Tuesday formed part of the monitoring and evaluation program of his department.
According to a statement, the Department had invested R9.1m into the expansion of aquaculture production and infrastructure development in the area as part of the implementation of the Agriculture Economic Transformation Strategy.
The MEC will meet with Karoo Catch workers, managers and infrastructure officials from the department to get a status report on the construction, production, training and selling of finished fish products to local supermarket chain stores in Graaff-Reinet.
“The Karoo Catch fish farm is one of the key Agriculture Economic Transformation Strategy projects financially supported by the department for the development of black farmers into commercial farmers,” the Department said.
“The R9.1m investment by DRDAR saw the construction of three grow-out tunnels that will enable Karoo Catch to produce about 120 tons of catfish per month. The MEC will inspect the status of these facilities during his monitoring and evaluation visit to the facility,” the Department said.
The facility already produces 60 tons of catfish per month and they are processed into burger patties, sausage, mince sold to local food retail stores.
The Department said that as part of the signed agreement with the department, Karoo Catch will train local black farmers providing them with commercial production, market-related skills and creating jobs for locals, women and youths, who will also own shares in the business.
“Currently the project employs 102 full-time employees from the local community.”
