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Cool cucumbers for Checkers

27 Oct 2009

The Tshwaraganang Hydroponics project produces 600 cucumbers per week on contract using the 'soil-free' hydroponic farming method. Located in Windsorton, about 65km north of Kimberley in the arid Francis Baard district of the Northern Cape, the National Development Agency (NDA) funded this in August 2008. The project is housed in a multispan greenhouse where production takes place using mineral enriched water in place of soil.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The cucumbers are harvested three times a week and transported to Kimberley. Freshmark takes the crop to its central distribution warehouse in Bloemfontein, the central base for vegetable supply for the Checkers Supermarkets in the Free State, Northern Cape and Lesotho.

"We are proud to support a project that generates sustainable income and employment for a small community like Windsorton," says Clive Moses, NDA Northern Cape provincial manager.

The initial funding of R886,920 enabled the hydroponics enterprise, which today employs 13 people, who receive salaries in excess of the NDA stipulated grant stipend amount. The excess amount is paid from the revenue of the project. As this is an economically depressed area, income earned by beneficiaries of the project has improved lives in the community.

The NDA's intervention has strengthened the partnership with the provincial Department of Agriculture to use the facility they had already constructed. Acquisition of a truck has saved the project thousands of Rands in transport costs, which can now be applied effectively elsewhere in the business. This venture is geared for huge success in the future.