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Poultry projects provide rural jobs

Yet another small poultry project is underway, providing employment and income to help sustain a rural community.

This one is in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape. A supplement in the Daily Dispatch, a regional newspaper, featured the handover of the R5 million project, jointly sponsored by government and the private sector. Funds came from Rand Mutual Assurance and the Mineworkers Development Agency, and the handover was performed by the provincial minister of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform.

It’s small in scale – an addition to a network of co-operatives producing grain and vegetables – but there are plans for expansion. The eggs and poultry operation currently has 4 000 egg-laying chickens but the hope is to increase this to 10 000 chickens by the end of 2021.

The project started in January this year, in the middle of the recession and job losses caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. That shows a community determined to win through.