FARMERS in the Chris Hani district have renewed hope after heavy rains fell in the area over the past few days opening, up opportunities to cultivate their land.

Eight cooperatives under the Zenzeleni Farmers Association launched yesterday at Mhlanga Administrative Area in Lady Frere by Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Mlibo Qoboshiyane said they have already tilled the soil in preparation for planting.

Nozuko Mbhabha of Kuyakhanya Cooperative, said while there is plenty of land available for them to cultivate, the recent drought was hindering them from doing so.

“While there is plenty of land to cultivate the recent drought has affected us badly. The lack of water catchment areas such as dams stops us from cultivating most of the land. We did not have water and the drought hindered us from working the land. We did not want to use the water that we get from taps as that is meant for human consumption and not irrigation,” said Mbhabha.

But despite the drought and lack of water Kuyakhanya cooperative managed to sell 300 bags of potatoes many of which were sold to local customers.

Mbhabha said their poultry project was doing well and Avian Flu, which affected more than 5000 birds at a farm in Uitenhage last month, did not deter them from continuing with poultry farming.

“We grow about 100 chickens at a time and sell them to locals. We would like to sell these to bigger markets. Our goal is to go commercial and we want to group our chickens together so that we can sell in bulk,” said Mbhabha.

Speaking at the launch of the Zenzeleni Farmers Association, MEC Qoboshiyane said other nations used available land to produce food and that had South Africa started with agrarian reform in 1994, all available land would be green by now.

He said the department had constructed the shearing shed and provided equip He said government and the private sector should help local cooperatives such as those under Zenzeleni by buying their produce.

“I spoke to retail giants about buying from our own cooperatives, they said they want to but they are concerned about sustainability. I said they must buy what is available. Even schools should buy vegetables from local cooperatives for school nutrition programmes,” said Qoboshiyane.

Noluyanda Mtshiwo of the Thixo Ungenelele corporative said they want to trade under one banner instead of operating in silos. The project came third in the Rural Development of the Female Entrepreneur Awards this year. Bongiwe Ngqatani of the Ngqatani Royal Family Corporative said cooperatives were trying to adopt DRDAR’s strategy aimed at commercializing agriculture as this would eliminate low yields by some Cooperatives affecting their income. The corporative, which comprises of six members, five of whom are women, has received assistance from the department in the form of livestock and seeds.

Chairperson of the association, John Mthiywa said now that local farmers in Mhlanga were working together, they would try to go the commercial way and sell to markets at a large scale ment worth more than R600 000 for their agriculture business activities. MEC Qoboshiyane said his department would assist the association with their needs in order to ensure the success of the emerging farmers.