Maize Triangle project boosts food production in Gauteng

Gauteng MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, told SAnews during her media tour at the Dreamlands Piggery and Bantu Bonke projects in the Midvaal on Tuesday, that the project was changing the lives of local communities.

"As a province, we are excited about the progress of our Maize Triangle. Since we launched the project, it has drastically helped us to address the triple challenge of inequality, unemployment and poverty.

"The good news about this Maize Triangle is that it is aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP), which is a plan for the whole country aimed at eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030," she said.

The province launched the Maize Triangle project in October 2010. It serves as a rural economic development initiative that targets grain food production through subsidising input supplies, mechanisation, marketing and agro-processing.

The project is aimed at increasing maize production in Gauteng. One of the provincial government priorities for 2009 - 2014 is the revitalisation of the Maize Triangle.

The areas that are currently dominated by maize fields and which form the core of the Maize Triangle include Sedibeng, Metsweding and West Rand District Municipalities.

Maize is the most important crop in South Africa, being both the major feed grain and staple food for the majority of the population.

Mayathula-Khoza said the maize industry was important to the economy both as an employer and earner of foreign currency because of its multiplier effect.

She said the provision of a value-adding central storage facility and silos to maize farmers has been identified as one of the priorities to achieve sustainable maize production in the province.

"The maize industry is also an important earner of foreign exchange through the export of maize and maize products. The industry exports mainly to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia, Mauritius, Japan and Zimbabwe," she said.

Mayathula-Khoza said Zimbabwe was the main export market for maize originating from South Africa due to food shortages fuelled by political unrest in that country.

"Since the unveiling of the Maize Triangle project, the province produces an average of 450 000 tons of maize."

Eight mentors have been employed to support grain producers in the Maize Triangle linked to the Recapitalisation Programme.

According to the MEC, a mechanisation programme is being rolled out in the province, with 34 tractors already having been provided to municipalities, while 30 more have been provided for cooperatives.

Mayathula-Khoza said since 2010, the Maize Triangle has created 603 temporary jobs during the planting and harvesting season.

"The agro-processing programme has assisted farmers within the Maize Triangle with milling plants, silos and abattoirs, and this is in line with the Maize Triangle strategy of intervening along the value chain and related industries like animal production," she said.

Dreamlands Piggery farmer and the 2006 Female Farmer of the Year, Anna Phosa, said: "Through hard work, I've manage to grow from being an emerging farmer, smallholder farmer into a commercial farmer and I've already employed 27 people who are working at the piggery, maize field and the abattoir."

Isaac Mgidi who is providing management support to a group of 20 elderly farmers at Bantu Bonke said they were generating their income by supplying the Tshwane, Johannesburg, Klerksdorp and Springs produce markets with their cucumbers, tomatoes and speech.

The land surface area of Gauteng which is used to produce maize is 105 000ha, making it the most widely produced crop in the province.

During her State of the Province Address, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said through the Maize Triangle flagship project, they have supported 150 farmers in the Greater Tshwane, Sedibeng and the West Rand with production inputs.

Emerging farmers in these regions have planted more than 1 500ha of maize since November 2011.

"We have supported 120 cooperatives and over 400 farmers with production inputs such as seeds, seedlings and fertilisers and 285 members of different cooperatives in the province have been trained," she said.