LOCAL
COMPETITIVENESS FUND
PROJECTS
Limpopo Now Has Its Own Jewellery Making And
Business Training Centre
A project
to turn Limpopo into a jewellery manufacturing centre has
been officially launched, enabling the province to take a
lead in
adding value to South Africa's rich store of minerals and metals.
Currently, South Africa manufactures only
2% of the world's jewellery despite the fact that it leads
world production in most minerals and metals, most of which
are exported in unprocessed form.
Even though Limpopo is a major contributor to South Africa's
mining production, virtually no jewellery is manufactured
in the province.
The Limpopo Jewellery Cluster (LJC), was
officially launched in Polokwane on July 10, by Limpopo MEC
for Economic.
Ishmael Mmbadi, SEDA
Regional Project Officer: Incubation;
Vukani Ubuntu founder Demos Takoulas; and African
Romance CEO Mohseen Moosa. |
The Limpopo Jewellery Cluster (LJC), was
officially launched in Polokwane on July 10, by Limpopo MEC
for Economic Development, Pitsi Moloto, and MEC for Local
Government and Housing, Soviet Lekganyane. It has been developed
with support of a R7 million grant from the Local Competitiveness
Fund of the Limpopo Local Economic Development (LED) Programme.
A further R1,5 million has been contributed by the State-owned
Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA). The remaining
budget of R2.2 million has been provided by Vukani Ubuntu
Community Development Projects which is driving the project.
Vukani has already established nine community-based
centres in five provinces where 1 000 jewellers from previously
disadvantaged communities have been trained, most of whom
are now working in the jewellery industry.
The LJC has been established in the form
of an incubator within the refurbished Zurel Bros diamond
cutting and polishing factory in Polokwane.
Funding from the Limpopo LED Programme has
enabled Vukani Ubuntu to establish complete infrastructure
for jewellery design and manufacturing training as well as
capacity building in the form of business and marketing skills
training.
An initial 20 young men and women, including
five deaf people, are undertaking an 18-month course enabling
them to obtain Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) Level
3 certificates.
This is a basic qualification enabling them to do bench work
in a jewellery manufacturing operation. They will need an
MQA Level 4 certificate to become qualified jewellery manufacturers.
Another 15 young people with qualifications
or previous experience in jewellery making are being given
the opportunity to improve their design and technical skills
and to acquire business and marketing skills to enable them
to start their own businesses.
They are being encouraged to form partnerships
or co-operatives in which groups combine complementary skills
to make themselves more sustainable and competitive. Each
group has a private work area in which it can make its own
products and seek advice to improve its skills.
Charles Mapetho plays a vital
role in the Limpopo Jewellery Cluster
as the interpreter for five deaf people
among the 20 trainees. |
Business and marketing skills training is
being funded by SEDA through the SEDA Limpopo Jewellery Incubator
(SLJI) situated within the complex. |
Limpopo Jewellery Cluster
production manager Theo du Plessis
introduces the first 20 trainees to the
tools of the trade in jewellery making.
As a goldsmith with 30 years of
experience in jewellery design and
manufacturing, Du Plessis brings a
wealth of experience to the Cluster
together with great enthusiasm. |
Jewellery Training |
JewelleryTraining |
A key market being targeted by the Cluster
is the growing Fair Trade market which gives accredited
producers in developing countries access to markets in
the developed world. Buyers in this market are known as "ethical
consumers"
because they are prepared to pay higher prices for products
in order to ensure that producers in developing countries
receive a fair reward for their labours. The so-called "social
premium" is paid back to producers, enabling them
to become more competitive, to build sustainable enterprises
and livelihoods, and to contribute to community development.
Vukani Ubuntu founder Demos Takoulas believes
the LJC and SLJI have laid all the foundations required to
meet the principal objective of the Limpopo LED Programme's
support for the project: to increase Limpopo's competitiveness
as a mining centre through added value manufacturing and
processing of locallyproduced
raw materials.
In addition to the partnership with SEDA,
Vukani Ubuntu has made what Takoulas describes as "a
major coup" in the form of an alliance with high-end
jewellery manufacturing and retailing specialists African
Romance which will display and promote jewellery made in
the LJC. Based in Sandton, Gauteng, and focused on the international
market, African Romance describes itself as "Africa's
First International Luxury Diamond And Jewellery Brand".
SEDA Business Development Officer
Peter Thulare who undertakes
business and marketing skills training
through the SEDA Limpopo
Jewellery Incubator. |
African Romance is already displaying in
its showrooms jewellery made in the LJC and intends to play
an increasingly active role in supporting the LJC and its
products, according to CEO Mohseen Moosa. |
African Romance has also introduced the LJC to a leading
British designer, Paul Spurgeon, who will spend time at
the LJC and design a jewellery range for the international
market. In addition, he will undertake a skills transfer
programme.
Another high-end outlet that could open to the LJC is the
Fair Trade-related market.
Phokela Mokomo (left) and Mavis Lekwadu are
among 15 people in the Limpopo Jewellery Cluster
who already have jewellery making qualifications
or experience and are receiving special support
to start their own businesses. They are being
encouraged to form partnerships or co-operatives
in which groups combine complementary skills
to make themselves more sustainable and competitive.
Mokomo and Lekwadu have joined forces with
Mabuti Maako to form Goldpot Jewellers. Mokomo
undertook a jewellery design and manufacturing
course at the National School of Arts in Johannesburg
but was unable to complete it. He worked as
an apprentice for a jewellery company before
joining the Limpopo Jewellery Cluster to gain
more experience and start his own business.
Lekwadu has national certificates in jewellery
manufacturing and assessing. She was a lecturer
at a jewellery school before joining the Limpopo
Jewellery Cluster. Maako has a qualification
in diamond cutting and polishing. |
Vukani Ubuntu has registered the name
SA FairMade Jewellery to enable centres such as the LJC to
sell products on the growing market for products manufactured
by marginalised communities and people working within a
socio-economic development context.
Fair Trade products are sold at a "social
premium" to buyers known as "ethical consumers".
These consumers are prepared to pay a higher
price as their contribution to ensuring that producers and
manufacturers receive a fair reward for their labours. The
premium is paid back to producers, enabling them to become
more competitive, to build sustainable enterprises and livelihoods,
and to contribute to community development.
An 18 carat White Gold Set of jewellery made
in the Limpopo Jewellery Cluster and
which is now on display in the showrooms of
African Romance in Sandton, Gauteng. |
For more information, please contact:
Demos Takoulas.
Tel: 012 326 8534;
Fax: 012 326 6241;
Cell: 082 772 4623.
E-mail: demos@vukani.org
Website: www.vukani.org |
Tomato Growers Buy Their Own Factory And
Develop Their Own Brand
Some
2 500 small- and medium-scale Limpopo tomato farmers now
have
a major stake in a food processing plant that will produce
a wide range of products under their own brand name.
The brand is APOL, which stands for
Agro-Processors of Limpopo.
Foods such as APOL whole peeled tomatoes
and tomato sauce, puree and onion
mix will soon be available on supermarket
shelves. Plans are also underway
to export products.
The venture brings into the mainstream
economy marginalised farmers who until
now have been confined to selling fresh
tomatoes mainly to informal markets.
The venture diversifies tomato production
in Limpopo which is dominated by two
companies and introduces competition in
the value-added tomato processing market
in which one holds a near monopoly.
The development is being led by the
2 500-member Limpopo Tomato Growers'
Association (LTGA) with support
of R48,4 million in grant funding. The
Limpopo Local Economic Development
(LED) Programme has contributed R7
million from its Local Competitiveness
Fund.
The Limpopo Department of Agriculture
(LDA) is investing an initial R21,4
million, of which
R17 million has already
been contributed. In addition, the
LDA will contribute a further R20 million
to fund a major capacity building
programme for LTGA growers who run
farms ranging from 5 hectares to 150 hectares
in many parts of Limpopo.
The LTGA has used some of the funding
to acquire a 51% stake in Neotech
Industries, a tomato processing factory in
Tzaneen.
The facility is being expanded and will
trade under the name APOL Foods which
will contract LTGA farmers to supply tomatoes
at guaranteed prices and market
the processed products.
Two trucks purchased from the grant
funding will load up LTGA farmers' tomatoes
at various collection points for
delivery to the processing factory.
The capacity building programme will
be used to train farmers to improve their
yields and to acquire essential business
skills.
LTGA envisages that training will help farmers
to double their production, from 40 to 50 tons of tomatoes
per hectare to between 80 and 120 tons/ha.Business skills training
is designed to assist farmers to better manage what will
hopefully become flourishing enterprises. Dr Ralph Manhire
of the Ralman Consulting Group, which is advising the LTGA,
estimates that a farmer who produces 80 tons/ha will gross
about R96 000/ha from each harvest. Deducting some R33 000
in input costs, the farmer will have a surplus of R63 000/ha.
LTGA adviser Dr Ralph
Manhire with samples of products
produced under the APOL brand
owned by small- to medium-scale
Limpopo tomato farmers. |
|
Limpopo Tomato Growers' Association president
Walter Moketla (left) and
APOL human resources and production manager Johan van
Wyk
|
Yields and incomes will, of course,
vary from area to area depending on climatic
and other conditions.
The ambitious production target is emboldening
LTGA to expand the Tzaneen
factory. A packhouse is being established
to grade, sort and pack tomatoes for fresh
produce markets and chain stores.
Processing facilities are being expanded
to handle some 500 tons of tomatoes a
day against current capacity of only 150
tons/day.
This will be achieved by installing an
evaporator to convert 50 tons of tomatoes
a day into puree. Installation of another
evaporator that will handle up to 300
tons/day is being planned.
APOL factory worker
Phrengelinah Lebepe prepares to
clean tomatoes inside the
APOL factory. |
The LTGA estimates that establishment
of the packhouse and expansion of
the processing facility will create 70 permanent
and 80 temporary jobs.
In its application for funding from the
Limpopo LED Programme, the LTGA
notes that Limpopo produces some 58%
of South Africa's tomatoes, with most
of this coming from the Mooketsi area
where ZZ2 is the dominant grower, and
from the northern parts of the province.
Tiger Brands dominates the South
African tomato processing industry with
a share of more than 75% of the market
and with much of its production taking
place in Limpopo, according to the World
Processing Tomato Council.
|
The Limpopo
LED Programme's support for the LTGA venture is aimed at
making Limpopo increasingly competitive not only as a roducer
of fresh tomatoes but as a processing centre, with growing
numbers of jobs being created
along the entire value chain.
"Currently, black farmers do not have
access to developed markets in the first
economy and supply their produce to
hawkers and other less developed markets
where demand and prices are unreliable,"
says the LTGA. "This introduces
great risk to small-scale farmers.
 Moketla and APOL factory
manager Hennie Kleinhans. |
Part of the failure
by small-scale farmers to penetrate developed markets is
due to lack of a packhouse to properly grade,
sort and pack produceers to penetrate developed markets is
due
to lack of a packhouse to properly grade,
sort and pack produce.
"Lower grade tomatoes are currently
wasted, warranting a packhouse and a
processing plant. The packing will improve
the quality and marketability of
higher quality tomatoes for fresh produce
markets, and the lower quality tomatoes
will be processed to add value to them."
Estimates of the quantity of tomatoes
used by the South African tomato
processing industry range from 150 000
to 200 000 tons/year.
If the LTGA achieves its goal of
processing 500 tons/day, it would become
a serious player in the South African industry
and be in a position to export on a
significant scale.
The LTGA envisages that guaranteed
prices and markets for its members will
enable them to expand and develop sustainable
enterprises.
It also believes the success of the
project will attract other growers and
boost its membership to some 5 000. This
will in turn boost the LTGA's influence
and revenue base, enabling it to become
more sustainable.
Moreover, says the LTGA, the model
on which the venture is based can be replicated
by other emergent groups such as
the Limpopo cattle, pig, poultry and fruit
producers' associations. This could benefit
as many as 10 000 small-scale farmers
in the province, says the LTGA.
For more information, please contact:
Dr Ralph Manhire
Tel: 011 783 9915
Cell: 082 755 4639
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Zebediela Takes Another Big Step
Having
been saved from the brink of collapse, Limpopo's flagship
Zebediela citrus estate is taking another big step to restore
its position as one of the world's great fruit farms. Now
owned by the local Bjatlhadi community, Zebediela has teamed
up with sister estate Lisbon and an internet-based marketing
agency to meet rapidly changing market demands and boost
their competitiveness.
Backed by a R2,1 million grant from the Limpopo Local Economic
Development (LED)Programme, the two estates are transforming
by becoming wholesalers instead of being bulk fruit suppliers
to middle-men.
They are re-inventing themselves by planning to install and
share specialized packaging equipment; to deliver their fruit
in consumer-friendly packs; and to re-brand and promote their
products.
They believe their actions will increase the competitiveness
of Limpopo's fruit industry by ensuring Zebediela and Lisbon
estates' direct access to local and international markets.
The Limpopo LED Programme grant is a contribution to costs
of changes to the Zebediela and Lisbon pack houses, new packaging
equipment to be shared by the two estates, and marketing and
branding of their oranges and mangoes.Evicted from the Zebediela
area in the 1920s, the Bjatlhadi community was granted ownership
of the famous estate and surrounding areas in 2003 under South
Africa's post-apartheid land restitution law.
The community then formed a partnership with Zebediela workers
and Limpopo-based commercial farmers, the Boyes Group, to manage
and develop the estate. A similar management structure has
been introduced at Lisbon involving local communities and workers.
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However, falling
citrus prices in recent times have been turning Zebediela
into a marginal producer. With Lisbon facing similar problems,
the community and its partners decided their only solution
was to increase margins by adding value in the form of modern,
innovative packaging, proper marketing and re-launching the
Zebediela and Lisbon brands.
"We have to adapt or die," Zebediela said in its
application for Limpopo LED Programme support.Until now, estates
like Zebediela and Lisbon have delivered most of their produce
in bulk to third parties who re-pack them for sale.
With consumers preferring to buy fruit
in handier quantities, the estates aim to meet supermarket
demand for smaller, high-value packs of fruit.
Research indicates this is also the preference
of municipal market agents, hawkers and small fruit and veg
stores.By re-branding and changing packaging, the farms will
be effectively changing their focus from selling to wholesalers
to becoming their own wholesaler. This will release value
from the supply chain directly to the farms in the form of
higher returns.It will also increase their market share,
turnover and profitability, thus bolstering long-term sustainable
production and pricing.
The partners will benefit not only from the estates' greater
competitiveness. The estates are also certified by Fairtrade,
the international trading organisation which buys from emerging
market producers who adhere to certain socially-responsible
standards.Products sold by Fairtrade command premium prices
from consumers who want to support fair trade practices.
The premium is shared by workers and communities on Fairtrade-certified
farms.As a partner with Zebediela and Lisbon, internet-based
marketing agency FruitOne is a founder member of Fairtrade
South Africa and therefore able to facilitate greater market
access for the estates. |
The partners in Zebediela's operating company:
Lesetja Tlolane, chairman of the Bjatlhadi
Communal Property Association which owns the estate,
and Frans Ledwaba, vice chairman of the Workers'
Trust. Johannes Aphane, chairman of the Workers'
Trust, and John Boyes of the Boyes Group. |
FruitOne will be responsible for the estatesÕ branding
strategies and for co-ordinating their marketing. Zebediela
and Lisbon will be able to share new packaging equipment because
they produce at different times of the year. By moving equipment
between Zebediela and Lisbon, the estates will effectively
make use of it for 11 months of the year, leaving one month
for relocation and servicing. |
Moves In Line With Limpopo Government Strategy
The initiatives being taken by the
partners fit in neatly with the Limpopo government's Provincial
Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS).The provincialgovernment
was instrumental in saving Zebediela from the brink of
collapse after inheriting the then State-owned estate following
South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy in
the early 1990s.Zebediela was expropriated from its private
owners in 1973 by the apartheid regime which handed over
its management to various State agencies. For the next
20 years, the estate made a profit on only three occasions,
with mismanagement taking a heavy toll on the estate, exacerbated
by drought, labour unrest and floods in the 1990s.
The Limpopo government finally axed Zebediela's management
in the late 1990s, leaving the estate in the hands of two
caretaker managers. But since then, things have been looking
up.The partnership between the Bjatlhadi community -- which
took over Zebediela from the State -- workers and the Boyes
Group was facilitated by the Limpopo provincial government
under the Strategic Partnership model it has developed
to ensure sustainability of estates awarded to communities
which lack the expertise and resources to maintain farming
land.
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This has seen the establishment of an operating company
in which the Boyes Group holds an initial 55%; the Bjathladi
community 30%; and the estate workersÕ trust 15%.
The operating company leases the land from the community.
The Boyes Group has a 15-year management contract with an
obligation to build capacity among workers, empowering them
to play an increasingly important role in the estate's development.
The Boyes Group must also reduce its shareholding over time.
In addition to sustaining agriculture, the partnerships
meet other PGDS objectives which are being supported by the
Limpopo LED Programme. Among them is the imperative for business
to add value to production in Limpopo which has traditionally
been an exporter of unprocessed primary products such as
agricultural produce and minerals.
By cutting out middle-men and delivering fruit directly to
supermarkets and other outlets in consumer-friendly packaging
marketed under their own brands, Zebediela and Lisbon are
adding value at the estates and creating demand for their
products. This is making Limpopo businesses more competitive
and sustainable, creating greater value for communities,
and stimulating local economic development.
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Zebediela Workers' Trust vice chairman Frans
Ledwaba with the big traditional netted bag of
oranges and the new, handier, consumer-friendly
small bag that will be marketed under the Zebediela
brand. The change in packaging is part of Zebediela's
strategy to meet rapidly changing market demands
and boost its competitiveness. Sister estate Lisbon
is pursuing a similar strategy. |
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Turning Sewage Sludge Into Organic Fertiliser
Converting hazardous sewage sludge
into a safe and competitive organic fertiliser for Limpopo
farmers is the ambitious aim of a new Public-Private-Partnership.Now,
Pro Organic Agri, a company involved in the partnership
with Limpopo municipalities, has been awarded a R667 560
grant from the Limpopo Local Economic Development (LED)
Programme to develop, design and construct a demonstration
plant to test the process on a small commercial scale.
The company says the accumulation and dumping of sewage
sludge in Limpopo's larger cities is not only hazardous,
but its use by some farmers as a fertiliser is harmful
to the environment. Usage can lead to nitrate pollution
of groundwater, heavy metal accumulation in soil, and risks
to human health through exposure to pathogens and toxic
elements.
Turning the waste into organic fertiliser will givecommercial
and emergent farmers in Limpopo a means to enrich soil
which is becomingdegraded in many parts of the province,
says Pro Organic Agri.
In this way, says the company, Limpopo farmers will become
more competitive by being able to meet demand from Europe
and elsewhere for organically grown crops.
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"The Limpopo Growth and Development Strategy stresses
the value-adding approach as a vehicle to raise competitiveness
and investment in the province, to combine public and private
sector contributions to development, and to align the interventions
of various public development institutions for greater
impact,"
says Pro Organic Agri.
"This will enhance the value chain and add value to
a waste product which is at this stage is a problem for municipalities.
"With considerable experience in the bio-organic industry,
Pro Organic Agri is working with Limpopo's Polokwane, Mokopane
and Tzaneen municipalities to develop a process in which
sewage sludge and other organic waste products are "enriched
with nutrient elements to serve as an organic fertiliser
and to eliminate all hazardous components from the sludge
in an environmentally acceptable manner".The project
involves the universities of Limpopo and Pretoria which will
be responsible for capacity building by training postgraduate
students to undertake certain work.The University of Limpopo
will evaluate the enriched sludge at its experimental farm
near Polokwane. The University of Pretoria will also be involved
in this process, as well as quality control of chemical analysis
and pathological evaluation.Pro Organic Agri says the project
will also create opportunities for Limpopo companies involved
in transportation, packaging and processing, and marketing.
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Time To Celebrate
Representing
commercial and emergent farmers, Letsitele Citrus Co-operative
has good reason to celebrate. Now in its 50th year, Limpopo's
oldest citrus packhouse has become the first in the province
to secure HACCP accreditation, enabling its 11 commercial
and 23 emergent farmer members to export to the European
Union (EU).
The co-op has been given a new lease on life through a R2,1
million grant from the EU-funded Limpopo Local Economic Development
(LED) Programme which is being implemented by the Department
of Local Government & Housing.
The grant has been used to assist the emergent and some commercial
farmers to upgrade facilities on their farms to Eurepgap standards
required by the EU. It has also enabled the co-op to upgrade
its packhouse and to secure HACCP (Health Analysis Critical
Control Points) accreditation which is a pre-requisite for
export to the EU.
As part of Letsitele Citrus Co-op's
upgrading to meet EU export requirements, staff are
required to maintain strict hygiene standards.
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"We are exceptionally proud of our
achievements,"
said general manager Johan van der Westhuizen as the co-op
celebrated its 50th anniversary at a special function in
Letsitele near Tzaneen.Upgrading of farmers' facilities and
the packhouse has enabled the co-op to export 1,1 million
cartons of citrus to the EU. Some 170,000 tons -- or 16%
-- was produced by the emergent farmers, a massive increase
in their production during the previous season when they
delivered only 35 000 cartons.
Celebrating Letsitele Citrus Co-op's
50th anniversary are (right) Willie Muller, chairperson
of the co-op, (centre) Lilian Letsoalo, chairperson
of the Mariveni Farmers' Co-op which represents 23
emergent farmers, and deputy chairperson Joseph
Mohlongo.
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Before receiving
the Limpopo LED Programme grant, Letistele Co-op had already
invested some R800 000 to make improvements to its old packhouse,
but even more investment was needed to upgrade the facility
to demanding EU standards.
Turning to the Limpopo LED Programme for
assistance, Letsitele said in its funding application that
"the immense capital expenditure required from us
to do the necessary improvements will ruin the members
financially if we have to borrow the money".
The Limpopo LED Programme awarded Letsitele Co-op a R2,1
million grant from its Local Competitiveness Fund (LCF),
one of three funds through which more than R55 million
has already been invested as part of the Programme's objective "to
reduce poverty through pro-poor economic growth"
A R2,1 million grant from the Limpopo
LED Programme has enabled Letsitele Co-op to construct
a roof over its loading area in order to protect
packed citrus and meet standards required to export
fruit to the EU.
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The LCF aims to make business groups more
competitive in the priority sectors of Limpopo's Provincial
Growth and Development Strategy: agri-business, mining, tourism
and manufacturing.
The Programme's Marginalised Community Fund
assists poor, rural communities to mobilise their assets
and enter the mainstream economy, while the Local Government
Support Fund assists municipalities to create conditions
conducive to economy growth.
Lillian Letsoalo is one of 22 members of the Mariveni
Farmers' Co-op. They have joined forces with commercial
farmers to upgrade the Letsitele Co-op packhouse,
enabling them to meet EU standards and to open
European markets. |
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Arts, Crafts & Tourism Cluster Launched
With Limpopo LED Programme Support.
 An
ambitious plan to establish a co-operative to assist Limpopo
Lowveld artists and crafters to improve and market their
products and also attract tourists to the area has been launched
with the support of the Limpopo LED Programme.
The European Union-funded Programme has contributed R850 000
to the project. It aims to establish a regional Co-operative
Development Centre, three local hub centres, and a village
tourism network in the Limpopo Lowveld which is marketed to
tourists as the Valley of the Olifants.Known as the Heritage-based
Arts, Crafts and Tourism Cluster, the project could benefit
as many as 200 pottery and jewellery entrepreneurs, 100 traditional
musicians, poets, performers and story-tellers, 15 woodcarvers
and basket weavers, 25 tour guides, and 25 village tourism
enterprises.
The cluster is being developed in tandem with another project
which aims to conserve the musical heritage of communities
living in the Limpopo Lowveld. This project is being supported
by a R6,4 million sponsorship from the National Lotteries Development
Trust Fund.The projects were launched by the Haenertsburg-based
Village Tourism Trust and its partners during a function near
Tzaneen at the end of June.
In addition to funding from the Limpopo LED Programme, the
Arts and Crafts Tourism Cluster is being supported by Mintek,
the State-owned minerals research and development agency, the
Development Bank of Southern Africa, Mopani District Municipality
and a number of other provincial departments and agencies,
and Afrikania Pottery.
This Phalaborwa-based pottery venture has received a R1 million
grant from the Limpopo LED Programme to enable it to open domestic
and export markets for its products and to play a greater role
in nurturing other arts and crafts businesses in the Limpopo
Lowveld.
The Limpopo LED Programme is contributing
to development of the arts and crafts cluster project through
its Local Competitiveness Fund.
Examples of artworks produced in the
Limpopo Lowveld area in which the Limpopo LED Programme
is supporting a project to make artists and crafters
more competitive and to enhance the region's attractiveness
as a tourism destination. |
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The project is in line with the Limpopo Provincial Growth
and Development Strategy which emphasises development in
the province of competitive clusters.
By assisting artists and crafters in the local informal
economy to become more competitive, the project aims to make
it easier for them to gain access to the formal arts and
crafts and tourism economies.
The project aims to:
- Create a community-based institutional framework and
to link
local initiatives and enterprises with first economy
institutions
and markets.
- Generate job opportunities by stimulating synergy between
artists, crafters and village tourism entrepreneurs under
a
co-operative structure.
- Develop markets, set-up marketing strategies and undertake
product development.
- Ensure that there is a design element that is current
in the art
and crafts manufactured by crafters and to ensure that
the crafts,
by bringing in the latest trends, will appeal to more developed
markets.
The project spans the Mopani and Vhembe district municipalities
and includes villages within the local municipalities
of Greater Giyani, Thulamela, Greater Tzaneen, Ba-Phalaborwa,
Maruleng and Greater Letaba.Village Tourism Trust director
Michael Gardner explains the project has been launched
because
"we realised that the craft sector was `drifting'.
There was no synergy between crafters; no focussed or
sustained marketing of craft products; no guidance regarding
product development and especially how craft items should
meet changing patterns of demand; no mechanisms to monitor
quality and outputs required to meet market requirements".
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The project,
says Gardner, will enhance the attractivness of the Valley
of Olifants as a tourism destination. "We believe there
is a need to create a vastly expanded `basket' of creative,
varied, fun and innovative products and experiences that
will really help to make this a unique destination within
the context of Southern Africa."
The planned regional Co-operative Development
Centre will aim to market, facilitate, develop and improve
competitiveness of artists and crafters in the area. It
will assist the craft sector with product development and
design, and research on trends in the interior decor industry,
with a view to bringing these elements into their design.
This will hopefully also assist expansion into new domestic
and international markets.
Developers envisage that the Co-operative Development Centre
will include an exhibition hall, an indigenous knowledge
resource centre, space to showcase cultural industries
and enterprise projects, a retail and wholesale sales facility,
storerooms, office space, training facilities, a mini-workshop
space, a glass recycling plant, dormitory-style accommodation,
and an outside entertainment and picnic area.
Development of a Village Tourism Network
is also envisaged. This will be based on accommodation in
villages where cultural tourism has already reached an advanced
state of development.The initiative will be driven by a Cluster
Development Agency.
Arts, crafts and tourism projects which participate in the
venture will be expected to donate part of their profits
into a fund that will partially sustain the agency.
For more information, please contact:
Michael Gardner: Village Tourism Trust.
Tel: +27 (0)15 276-4807
Cell: +27 (0)83 255 9448
E-mail: vavasour@mweb.co.za
Present at the launch of Village Tourism Trust's
cultural heritage projects were: (from left) Mishack
Mulaudzi, Limpopo Department
of Sport, Arts and Culture; Maurice Stander, vice
chairman of the Haenertsburg Development Foundation;
Sheila Mafereka from the Development Bank of Southern
Africa; and Tim Wilkinson, Team Leader of the Limpopo
Local Economic Development (LED) Programme.
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Expanding Grape Production In Lephalale
A combination of the strong rand and fragmentation
of individual farmers in the Lephalale area has undermined the
competitiveness of table grape production in the Waterberg. African
Rural Development, in partnership with four farms in the area,
has received R850,000 to undertake a market research study to
look at ways to improve the competitiveness of the farms for
exporting while also integrating emerging farmers in the surrounding
areas into a more coordinated production area.
Developing Limpopo's Wild Game Industry
Together with Waterberg District Municipality
and Ecosystems, Afrivet Business Management has received a R800,000
grant to look into the development of the wild game industry
in Limpopo. This is a fast growing market, both domestically
and internationally. For instance, world demand for venison is
50,000 tons annually of which South Africa only supplies 2,000
tons. This study will look at ways to consolidate this industry
and improve its competitiveness in order to take advantage of
this lucrative market.
Developing Neutriceuticals in Limpopo
Goldex 35 Pty has been awarded a R711,524
contract to look into the feasibility of developing a competitive
production and processing industry for neutriceuticals in Sekhukhune.
Neutriceuticals are medicinal plants and herbs which are made
available to the wider public through pharmaceutical methods,
such as pills. Not only does Limpopo have ideal climatic and
soil conditions for this extremely lucrative market, but growing
cash crops from which products are derived offers opportunities
for income generation and market access for small scale farmers.
A Marble Hall Horticulture Cluster
Greater Marble Hall Municipality,
together with the Citrus Growers Association, Limpopo Department
of Agriculture and Elandskraal Irrigation Scheme, has received R405
280 to explore the feasibility of setting up a horticulture cluster
in this area. A study will assess how to enhance the competitiveness
of this Provincial Growth and Development Strategy sector by looking
at value adding opportunities, creation of a logistics hub and skills
development of emerging farmers. |
