Agriculture

[a] 10. [a] The Ebenhaezer Irrigation Revitalisation Project was primarily focussed on the 153 irrigation plot holders in the Ebenhaezer community.  When the people of Ebenhaezer was dispossessed of their land in 1924, those 153 members of the community who were older than 18, married and male, each received 2 morgen (±1,68 hectares) of irrigation land.  By 2007, when a delegation from Ebenhaezer came to visit the HOD of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) in search of assistance, the canal system supporting these plots was in such a state of disrepair that the individual farmers could not receive their water allocation.  Based on this request, the WCDoA investigated the various options and in the end recommended that the canal system should be replaced by a piped system through which the water could be delivered at three Bar pressure to the individual farmers.  This project fundamentally changed the viability of farming in the Ebenhaezer community.

[b]  [i] The WCDoA contributed R53 013 000 [(excluding Compensation of Employees and direct operational costs] to the revitalisation of the Ebenhaezer irrigation scheme through the various actions listed below. The cost of the bulk irrigation infrastructure, with an initial contract value of R92 506 810, was completed at the final project cost of R78 835 522. This completion cost lower that the contract value can largely be ascribed to the special oversight role funded and provided by the WCDoA.

[ii] in addition to the initial conceptualisation of the irrigation system, the WCDoA and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform [DRDLR] – later amalgamated with other entities to form the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development [DALRRD] – agreed to embark on a joint project with DRDLR taking responsibility for funding the bulk irrigation system whilst the WCDoA are responsible for overall project management as well as on-farm development.  To this end the WCDoA rendered the following:

• • Final design of the irrigation system
  • Engineering oversight.
  • Digitising the boundaries of individual farms.
  • Determining the “ownership” (or user rights) of individual farms.
  • Removal of trees from the farms.
  • Drainage of inundated areas.
  • Breaking the “dorbank” in certain areas with the associated removal of rocks.
  • Soil preparation.
  • Providing on-farm irrigation infrastructure.
  • Supporting individual farmers to establish long term, vegetable and vegetable seed crops.
  • Support 80 farmers to establish lucern as an entry point farming activity.
  • Providing a phased-down water subsidy to the farmers over the first five years.
  • Documenting the whole project; including the important elements of inter-departmental cooperation.

[e]  Although individual farmers had user and water rights to their plots, they could not make use of these rights due to the poor quality of the bulk irrigation infrastructure. This project enabled and empowered these farmers to use their rights to generate an income from their assets.  It is important to note that those plot holders not interested in farming, can now rent their land out to other farmers.  Similarly, those in the community, interested in farming but with no access to land, can also rent land. In addition, the sense of self-worth and the value of renewed economic activity in the community should never be underestimated.

[d]  Due to the mix of commodities [e.g. lucern, wine grapes, brassica seed, etc.] produced in Ebenhaezer and the differential employment implications of these commodities, combined with the complex mix of permanent, temporary and family employment opportunities It is very difficult to provide a definitive figure on the number of jobs created. However, one can safely say that at least one permanent employment opportunity was created for each of the 153 irrigation plots.