Joint agricultural incubation project kicks off

AfriForum, the family farmer network Saai and the office of Kgosi Gaboilelwe Moroka, kicked off a joint indigenous veld goat incubation project in the Barolong Boo Seleka kingdom at Thaba’Nchu, east of Bloemfontein in the Free State with a progeny herd of 21 Nguni indigenous veld goats and goat farming- training by Gerhard Lourens, from LGL Inheemseveldbokstoet to local small holder farmers and Kgosi Moroka and her team. The aim of this project is to equip local small holder farmers with knowledge and skills to develop subsistence and small-scale farming into profitable enterprises and also to establish a herd of goats which will eventually develop into a sustainable goat farming business and produce goats to launch further development projects at grassroots level.

“A true fact is that agriculture is the basis of human survival. It is also through agricultural regeneration that we can achieve lasting success. It is key in addressing food insecurity, sustainability, malnutrition, poverty and unemployment. This goat project serves as an incubator of the direction we perceive goat farming should take throughout all rural communities in South Africa. Our appreciation to AfriForum and Saai, for their continued cooperation and partnership with Barolong Boo Seleka in the effort to empower the nation to have self-reliant livelihoods. Our future depends on agriculture,” says Kgosi Gaboilelwe Moroka, Kgosi of the Barolong Boo Seleka.

“It is a privilege for Saai to make a difference by equipping subsistence and small holder family farmers with the necessary knowledge and skills to commercialize and modernize their farming activities. The support and mentoring role we fulfill makes it possible for these family farmers to develop into commercial farmers who contribute to wealth creation, food security, economic growth and job creation,” adds Theo de Jager, Executive Chairperson of Saai.

“We are establishing a network of self-sufficient cultural communities on the basis of mutual recognition and respect within which communities collaborate to ensure a free, safe and prosperous future for the children of all communities here at the southern tip of Africa. A new social order built on the foundation of community federalism is taking shape at the grassroots level – this gives us hope for the future as it gives interdependent communities here the opportunity to collectively find solutions to the challenges we face,” says Barend Uys, Head of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum.

Joint agricultural development and heritage projects have been successfully undertaken since 2022 after the conclusion of a mutual recognition and cooperation treaty between AfriForum and the Barolong Boo Seleka. These good relations and cooperation are a revival of the good relations and cooperation that were established in the 1830s between the Afrikaner and Barolong Boo Seleka cultural communities.