Rural wool growers in the Ngcobo Local Municipality made a whopping R10.9 million from wool sales in the previous shearing season, bringing a much-needed financial boost to wool growers in the area.
MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Nonkqubela Pieters, said that for any investment there must be a return, and the returns are not for government but for farmers.
“If we have invested R1.2 million into this shed, farmers should be able to multiply that amount in income,” she said.
She cautioned farmers to operate as businesses and that they must reinvest their income into their wool growing businesses. Pieters urged members of this association to bring more youth on board. She added that there are good young farmers who are doing well; farming is not just for older people[ they need more young people in agriculture.
Chairperson for Ngcobo Wool growers Association, Xolile Jezile, said that in the previous season shearing sheds across the Ngcobo Municipality contributed 170 000 kg of wool. He said that the bulk of that wool was sold to BKB while two percent was sold to Cape Mohair and Wool (CMW).
Among the excited farmers under the Siyakha Wool Growers Association were two young people, Yonela Mtatshana (32) and Nncedo Jama (34), who took up livestock farming due to unemployment. Mtatshana, who owns 44 sheep, said that she was drawn to wool growing because of unemployment.
“In livestock farming, you are able to grow and sell sheep and get money for survival. Before this multi-purpose shed was given to us we had some challenges because we did not have all the required machinery and we did not have a dipping tank,” said Matatshana.
She added that they would now be able to dip their sheep and vaccinate them at the time of vaccination. According to her this will improve the quality of their wool.
On the other side, Jama said the department’s investment came as a great relief to them because previously they used an old shed built by their parents. She confirmed that together with her parents they own 108 sheep.
“As a child, I used to rear sheep and I would take them for dipping. This created a love for me to love farming,” said Jama.
