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Eksteenskuil Raisin Incubator Project
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Partner name:
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Eksteenskuil Landbou Kooperasie Beperk
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Project name:
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Eksteenskuil Raisin Incubator
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Funding round:
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CFP 2
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Funding:
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Jobs Fund grant R18 250 000
Matched Funding R24 810 000
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Website:
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http://www.eksteenskuil.co.za
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Window:
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Enterprise development
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Location:
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Northern Cape
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Partners:
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Bokomo Foods, Dried Fruit Industry Board and Eksteenskuil Farmer
Cooperative
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Problem statement:
Raisin production in South Africa is concentrated in the Northern Cape. About 400 hectares of land available in and around the town of Eksteenskuil, along the Orange River in the Northern Cape, is owned by 55 resource-poor raisin farmers who are part of a primary agricultural cooperative. These farmers have water rights but have been unable to commercially farm the land due to the farmers’ lack of appropriate farming knowledge and techniques, technical training and support, and access to markets. The Eksteenskuil Raisin Incubator aims to help these farmers overcome these constraints and optimise the production capacity of the available land to secure commercially viable enterprises.
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Partner(s):
The Eksteenskuil Raisin Incubator has partnered with Bokomo Foods, the Dried Fruit Industry Board and the Farmer Cooperative for this project.
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Intervention:
The Eksteenskuil Raisin Incubator aims to capacitate 55 raisin farmers in the Northern Cape to optimise the production capacity of 200 hectares of their farm land for raisin production through a 15-year incubation arrangement between the farmer cooperative and incubator managers. The community have managed to farm 200ha but not on a commercial level. For this project, the unfarmed remaining ha will be developed. The initiative will provide centralised and comprehensive incubation services to the participant farmers, including the correct establishment of vines on the farms; technical training and mentorship support; central logistical, administrative and financial support; as well as the facilitation of market access on behalf of the farmers. The initiative has a revolving credit facility which will be funded by money received from participating farmers. The farmers will sell their produce and pay back the Job Fund grant portion of assistance provided for their farming operations. The proceeds from the repayments are put back into the initiative to benefit future participant farmers. It is anticipated that the initiative will produce about 5 000 tons of grapes a year.
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Expected results:
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