NCORA: AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT FARMING CAN LOOK LIKE IN SA
ANDILE NTINGI spells out that to develop thriving black farmers, they not only need access to additional land, but also investment into infrastructure, skills and market development
D
eep in the rural Eastern Cape on the banks of Tsomo River lies the village of Ncora, home to one of many irrigation schemes in the province that has suffered from years of underinvestment after the fall of apartheid in 1994. Ncora’s land is so fertile and blessed with vast water resources that it could
easily be South Africa’s breadbasket. However, the area is unlikely to become one of our country’s main sources of food unless a serious effort is made to attract private investors to steer it towards its full potential. In the ongoing debate about land reform, places like Ncora rarely feature in the discussion despite possessing the ability
to bring poor rural communities into the mainstream of agricultural production. These places represent a wasted opportunity akin to the commercial farms that are bought by government from white farmers and transferred to black farmers only for the farms to end up being unproductive under the new owners.
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