Page 63 - SCAT Rural Voice II - 35 Stories for 35 Years

EnTLAnGO
pRImaRY aGRIcultuRal coopeRatIve
Qongqotha (also called eQonce) is a peri-urban village just on the outskirts of King William’s Town, 54km from East London in the Eastern Cape. The King William’s Town area’s economy is based on cattle and sheep farming, but the town itself has a large industrial sector, producing textiles, soap, candles, sweets and clothing.1 The town’s proximity to the new Eastern Cape provincial capital of Bisho has brought more development to the area since the end of apartheid in 1994. Sadly, the development of King William’s Town has not spread to Qonqotha which is riven by poverty and youth unemployment.
Entlango started in 2007 as a small farming project aimed at helping fifteen young people learn how to farm. Since those early years, the organization has now grown into a successful hydroponic farming project. The project generates an average monthly income of r28 000.00, from selling tomatoes, spinach, beetroot, cabbages and cauliflower.
The LDA has also forged strong relationships with local supermarkets and wholesalers such as the Boxer Superstore, nicks Superstore, Saverite and Spar Supermarket. They are now in the process of establishing new markets for their produce in King William’s Town, Alice, Fort Beaufort and East London.
1. King William’s Town | South Africa | Britannica.com. (2017.). retrieved October 9, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/ place/King-Williams-Town Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “King Wiliam’s Town”. Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 822.
FOOD seCUrity
FAst FACTS
NaMe: Entlango Primary Agricultural Cooperative
LeD By: Khumbulani yekani
MaiN CHaLLeNGes faCeD By tHe CoMMUNity: Poverty, unemployment
MaiN aCtiVities: Hydroponic farming; community development; income generation aDDress: near where the r346 intersects the Buffalo river, Zwelitsha
CoNtaCt:
email: kyekani054@gmail.com
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