Food Security: KwaZulu-Natal Government Launches Multi-Planting Campaign To Support Agricultural Sector

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has started a "government turnkey, fool-proof solution-driven campaign" to ensure food security in the country.

Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, said on Thursday that the government needed to find creative solutions to make sure there was food sustainability and jobs in the country amid rising food costs and high levels of unemployment.

"Agriculture is at the forefront of our strategy. Therefore, launching the multi-planting season is not just an event, but a program that will change the lives of our people, especially the youth and rural communities," she said, SA News reported.

She revealed that over 20,000 hectares of land will be planted with yellow maize, dry beans, and all kinds of vegetables this season across the province. Furthermore, farmers will be connected to the markets to make sure they were directly selling the outcome.

Dube-Ncube shared that through the District Development Model, all members of the Executive Council will start a provincial program in their respective districts and communities.

Moreover, the local communities will also get to reach out to the department in order to receive expert advice, farming implements, seedlings, and traditional land for cooperative projects.

The premier acknowledged that food security was a "national challenge," noting that several households in the poorest rural areas were facing food insecurity within KwaZulu-Natal province.

"Therefore, the intervention by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to assist indigent families and farmers, affording them an opportunity to participate in the mainstream economy of the province is timely," she said.

"This is a season for food security. We will do away with poverty and hunger and we want our people to create their own wealth through working the soil. We also want to further support the youth, who are interested in the agricultural sector, realize success and benefit from the sector's value chain."

Dube-Ncube went on to encourage the local communities to get in touch with ward committees to access information about the government's program.

Super Zuma, who serves as Agriculture and Rural Development MEC, said that this program will ensure there is no home without a garden.

Reuben Nkontwana, cooperative chairperson of Ntshiyabantu Communal Estate, thanked the department for its intervention.

"Now that we have land and guaranteed assistance from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, not one family will go hungry. We are hoping for more rain so that we have plenty of produce that will bring us enough money to support our families and have food to eat," Nkontwana said.