College of Sustainable Agriculture
Our Projects
Our projects currently consist of 10 active and 50 completed.
The village of St Marks lies in the Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, where it is central to sixteen surrounding villages that together have an estimated population of 9,000 permanent residents, 78% of whom live in poverty.
In October 2016, CSA was awarded the 2-year project jointly, by the Department of Higher Education and Training and the National Skills Fund. The project's primary focus is to promote rural development, the formation of cooperatives, and small markets medium enterprises (smmes).
This primary agricultural cooperative consists of 36 emerging beef cattle and maize farmers who farm on 35 000 hectares around the Eastern Cape town of Elliot.
The cooperative requested assistance to develop the skills of its farmers to expand production towards viable units.
The College of Sustainable Agriculture implemented a learnership program for 20 members in plant production,
as well as in a number of skills that included Corporate Governance, Financial Management of an Agri Enterprise, Basic Business Skills and Communication.
Dried Fruit Technical Services (DFTSJ is the statutory
commodity organisation for dried fruit farmers and
processors in South Africa, and supports more than 1 500
registered farmers. The DFTS is also the administrator for
the Statutory Levy in terms of the regulations of the
National Agricultural Marketing Act, and the National
Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMCJ).
The College of Sustainable Agriculture develops and
implements training programs to support the
improvement of fruit quality and productivity on farms,
and to transfer skills related to new technology and
farming methods.
Wild Coast Lobster Fishing & Diving project takes advantage of the natural crayfish resource in the region between Port Stjohns and Nqileni in the Wild Coast region. CSA has trained 2410 individuals through the running of a skills program, teaching them to:
- Dive for and catch crayfish
- Conduct First Aid when necessary
- conduct entrepreneurial ventures that link into an established off-take value chain
