The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Rosemary Capa has unveiled a fresh produce mini pack house in Mzinti under the Nkomazi Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.
Deputy Minister Capa officially opens and handsover the Mzinti Mini Packhouse in commemoration of International Day for Rural Women in Mzinti, Mpumalanga. #InternationalDayforRuralWomen #WomensEmpowermentAgenda #womeninagriculture #capacitybuilding #LeaveNoOneBehind pic.twitter.com/kvE5jRKZKK
— Department of Agriculture, Land Ref and Rural Dev. (@DALRRDgov_ZA) October 15, 2022
The handover of the pack house to benefit most women, coincide with International Day of Rural Women.
The Nkomazi region is known for its agricultural activities in both crop and livestock farming.
Agriculture is the backbone of the economic drive in the region. Cooperatives in the farming sector are confident that they will now tap into new markets after being handed a pack house.
Some of the crops that will be processed at the pack house include butternut, tomatoes, cabbages, sweet potatoes and onions.
International Day for Rural Women in Mzinti, Mpumalanga. #InternationalDayforRuralWomen #WomensEmpowermentAgenda #womeninagriculture #capacitybuilding #LeaveNoOneBehind #FoodSecurity2022 @GCISMedia pic.twitter.com/oUNmb8YlaY
— Department of Agriculture, Land Ref and Rural Dev. (@DALRRDgov_ZA) October 15, 2022
The beneficiaries have laude the department for the initiative. They believe the facility will assist them tap into new markets.
They say, “The pack house will help me because it will be easy to process and it will be easy to get a market because the vegetables will be fresh. About 500 people will benefit from this project, we were also depending on government, and we will be sustainable and responsible for our own things.”
The pack house will benefit Farmers’ Co-operative, which was established in 2013, now with 21 co-operatives.
The Deputy Minister for the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Rosemary Capa says the pack house is aimed at addressing the issue of access and availability of nutritious food, in a proper establishment.
“Onve Harvesting has taken them, they must bring them here, attend to them, clean them that’s why you see sinks and so on, so you begin to package them so that local supermarkets and distributors get them in a packaged to able to easily process them.”
— Department of Agriculture, Land Ref and Rural Dev. (@DALRRDgov_ZA) October 15, 2022
The cooperative are expected to supply produce for the school nutrition programme. It is envisaged that this will lead to economic transformation for local cooperatives and businesses.
