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SA Macadamia Nut Model Collective Farm nearly Tango Uniform
[News24] Mbombela - A macadamia farming project by young farmers, which has been hailed by government as a model for land reform projects, is on the verge of collapse.In 2011 five aspirant Mpumalanga farmers acquired the 65-hectare farm worth R5.35 million. But five years on, the business situated in Schagen, 30km from Mbombela, is collapsing ‐ with the young farmers accusing provincial rural development and land reform officials of sabotaging their project by starving it of resources and support services. The Insimu Yami Cooperative comprised of Julius Sibiya (34), Trinity Mondlane (31), Phindile Mondlane (27), Cynthia Zitha (21) and Wandile Ndlovu (25) now faces liquidation by debtors. The electricity is already switched off due to non-payment of a whopping R2.8 million bill, and criminals are stealing from the property piece by piece. The hip, trendy group of youngsters who would otherwise have pursued sexier jobs, had been identified by the department of rural development and land reform and were given a grant of R2.7 million under the land distribution for agricultural development programme. They then topped up the grant with a loan of R2.65 million from a commercial bank.
Posted by: Besoeker 2016-09-27 |
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