According to the experts, it is still not over yet and it will take a while until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. As citizens, we have a responsibility to adapt to new fundamental ways of living. Yes, our lives have really changed in many ways and it is not going to be business as usual from now onwards until this virus is gone. Although everyone is doing their utmost best to flatten the curve of...
PEBBLES PROJECT Team Casidra put their hands together by raising funds to support the Pebbles Project as part of its 90 minutes for Nelson Mandela’s 2020 birthday celebration despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Casidra staff members donated education packs so that children at the Pebbles Project ECD centres do not have to share classroom resources. Each pack also included a mask, wet wipes and hand sanitizer. The Pebbles Project extended a word of gratitude to everyone for making donations towards Mandela...
The Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, and Executive Mayor of the Swartland Municipality, Mr Tjimen van Essen, visited Swartland grain and livestock farmers, Alfreda Mars and Andries van der Poll. Alfreda Mars farms with sheep and grain on her farm, Middelpos 946. According to Mars, the farm’s grain production has been doing well over the past two years. The drought, however, has also impacted her yield. She is supported by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture who with...
The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, visited Booysen’s Tunnel Farming, owned by youth farmer Byron Booysen outside Kraaifontein in Cape Town. Booysen’s Tunnel Farming is slowly establishing itself as a commercial producer and supplier of tomatoes to local markets. Six years ago, Byron decided to follow his dream to own a farm business one day. With the support of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and Casidra, his goal is slowly becoming a reality. Booysen’s Tunnel Farming produces tomatoes in 4...
The Western Cape Government's ‘One Home, One Garden’ Campaign is gaining momentum across the Province with a total of 1371 food gardens established over the past two months. 433 Gardens were established in the Metro with 123 of them being in Gugulethu. Other areas that have benefitted include Riversdale, Groot Brak, Thembalethu, Nduli, Bella Vista and DuNoon, amongst others. Commenting on the ‘One Home, One Garden’ Initiative, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, said: “One of my key...
Casidra achieved its 30th consecutive unqualified financial report. The Board and the Executive Authority have expressed their appreciations for maintaining this accolade of good track record since the inception of our organisation in 1989. They are all of the same view that this is a testimony of good governance. The Chairperson of the Board, Mr. Ainsley Moos presented the 2018/19 Annual Report to the Executive Authority, Minister Ivan Meyer during an Annual General Meeting which was held at Casidra...
Casidra's Team donated soup pack ingredients to the Pebbles Project as part of the Company's Mandela Day Celebration. On the day, our selected team representatives visited the Pebbles Project centre in Kraaifontein to deliver the ingredients. The team then spent their 67 minutes for Mandela Day doing the packing and sorting of soup packs for the beneficiaries.
Minister Ivan Meyer visited Casidra on Friday, the 2nd of August 2019 and was he extremely impressed with the work we do in the Agriculture sector. Minister Meyer's strong belief is that people should always admire, respect and love Agriculture. He outlined five priorities for Casidra to work on as follows: Training and Education; Farmer Support Development; Rural Safety; Market Access and Climate Change. #ForTheLoveofAgriculture
Premier Alan Winde, Minister of Agriculture Dr Ivan Meyer and the entire Western Cape cabinet met with representatives from the agricultural sector to discuss the successes and challenges and challenges they face. The meeting forms part of a series of engagements Premier Winde and his cabinet will hold with various sectors and role players in the Province, which will be taking place over the coming months. Premier Winde thanked the sector for its resilience and for continuing to invest in agriculture,...
Casidra’s Board of Directors and Management team extended a warm welcome to the new Minister of Economic Opportunities, Ms Beverly Schäfer, during a meeting held at Casidra’s Head Office on the 22nd of November 2018. During her introduction, Minister Schäfer expressed her appreciation and said that it is a wonderful privilege to be Casidra’s new Executive Authority. She further expressed her excitement to continue working with Casidra as Provincial Government Enterprise and said that one of her key responsibilities...
World Food Day celebrated in Brandwacht South Africa has joined the world in marking World Food Day to highlight the plight of millions of malnourished people in the world. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture and the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries hosted a World Food Day event on 24 October 2018 in Brandwacht. World Food Day is commemorated annually around the world on 16 October in remembrance of founding the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United...
Casidra’s Board, Management and Staff have pleasure in welcoming its new Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ashley Seymour effective from 4th of March 2019. Mr Seymour is a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) who spent much of his career in development financing & Impact investing and is a seasoned Executive as well as Non-Executive Board member in both the public and private sectors. He is a passionate South African, born and mostly raised in the rural parts of the Eastern Cape....
Caledonia Farming is situated outside Hopefield in the Sandveld area and farms with livestock (sheep and cattle) and grain production on a small commercial scale and has three beneficiaries (a mother, Miena and her sons, Carlo and Emile Baron). The project recently received a new bakkie by means of the WCDoA’s CASP funding and the beneficiaries are planning to add rooibos tea to their production in the near future.
The WCDoA and Casidra annually implement the Junior LandCare project, which focuses on creating awareness amongst young children in Grades 1 to 6. This year, Marina Moller Eilers was contracted to do puppet shows for the children in the Eden, West Coast and Central Karoo regions. The first set of puppet shows were held in the Eden district at the Towerkop Primary School in Ladismith reaching 230 Grade 1 learners and 217 Grades 2 and 3 learners as well...
Johannes Jacobus (JJ) Love, one of 153 farmers in Ebenhaeser, situated about 40 kilometres from Vredendal, farms on 2 hectares of land with a high density wine vineyard. The project is mentored by Namaqua Kelder’s Dirk de Bruyn who also funds some inputs and acts as the project’s marketing channel. Casidra started implementing the project two years ago on behalf of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. Soil preparation, carbon fiber poles, vines and other production inputs were purchased with the...
LEARN 2 LIVE is a community organisation situated at Wallacedene, which has established a vegetable garden to empower its community. The project was funded by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme for R44 000. Casidra, as the implementing agent, with Cynthia Lebenya as the Project Manager, used the funding to procure the field irrigation system, protective clothing and production inputs. The project currently produces vegetables and has established a medicinal garden. The project provides basic agricultural training to...
Integri-Agri (Pty) Ltd is a free-range egg farm located on the Boschendal Farm in the Stellenbosch area. This farming project was established by Rico Vergotine who oversees all farming operations with other two workers. Integri-Agri’s main objective is to produce the best quality eggs and broiler chickens with no negative impact on the environment. This farm aims to enhance an already existing free-range, pasture-raised operation, producing free-range (organic) eggs for the local supermarkets and restaurants. The project’s application for funding...
“I do not wish for this life for my children. We can’t all end up being farm workers. They must be the generation that does something better with their lives.” ~ farm worker, anonymous. No matter how much attention is paid to improving education opportunities in South Africa, improvements in less-privileged areas, including specifically in the rural areas, remain a vital part of the process. In the past, people living in outlying areas often had to rely on farm schooling for...
Every year the very foundation of our existence and survival is put under pressure by numerous factors, most of which are affected by humans. Over the years, deforestation has affected several regions of the world in a negative way. Greater population growth means loss of forested land, and pressure on natural resources like our water systems and coastlines through the every-growing need to feed people. Yet without our vital environmental assets, we would be unable to farm, fish, and...
When we think of job creation, we often think of big business or city/town projects that bring about accompanying opportunities for work. However, we tend to overlook the great potential lying in country areas where multi-faceted agricultural and related business opportunities are still untapped. All roads lead to Rome, they may say, but in essence successful initiatives can be found anywhere, not only in the towns and cities. How can we effect change? There is much talk about...
Yandisa Langa is the founder and sole owner/beneficiary of Langa Mountain Tomatoes in Tokai. This project produces and supplies tomatoes to local vegetable stalls, supermarkets and restaurants, and has created jobs for three employees in the area. Langa is a born entrepreneur and worked as a security guard at one of the local malls when he spotted a niche in the supply and delivery market. What inspired his idea was enquiries about the delays in food deliveries and the shortage...
Casidra has successfully completed the implementation of two chicken sheds for Kauthars Chicken Broilers in Hopefield. This is a Chicken broiler project that was started in 2016 and belongs to three female previously disadvantaged individuals. These beneficiaries applied for funding for the construction of broiler houses and production inputs and their request was approved by the Commodity Project Allocation Committee of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. Approximately R700 000 of Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme funds was allocated to the...
Towards the end of 2017 the harsh reality of the current and intense drought experienced by the Western Cape, continued to play out. Casidra supported the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) in the procurement and provision of drought relief feed to farmers to support their livestock through this difficult period. The conditions also required farmers to reduce their herds, some of whom at times had a few more animals than they should have. To this effect, the drought...
Casidra was privileged to form part of the adjudication panel at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s (WCDoA) Junior LandCare’s water care campaign held at Elsenburg on 20 June 2018. The adjudication panel was tasked with scoring grade 6 and 7 learners on speech, poster, drama and debate relating to Conservation of Natural Resources, Water, Environment and Energy. Ten schools participated in the speech category, five in the poster category, four in the debate category and six in the drama...
“Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern.” ~ Frank Herbert Good Governance is a relatively new concept along with human rights, democracy and public participation. It means that any organisation, such as government institutions or private companies – or any facility that purports to provide a service, conduct public affairs and manage public resources – must act in the public interest at all times. In other words, governments and organisations must...
Infrastructure is the fundamental facility and system network serving a country, city, or community, including the services and resources necessary for the overall economy to function. It presents the physical systems of a business or nation such as: transportation, communication, sewage, water and electricity; these are all part of the infrastructure, and they are vital to a country’s economic development and prosperity. Without these basic, dynamically interlinked elements, cities cannot operate efficiently, and an economy cannot be soundly built...
The Way Forward “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.” ~ John Donne (1624) The great lesson of life is that while we may appear to be sailing our own ship, we very rarely are. There is always a broader community at work, supporting our dreams, and bolstering our endeavours. The trick is to draw from our background of family and friends, while at the...
Ensuring nutrition for the world’s burgeoning population is an ongoing concern in many countries. Food is considered a basic human right – yet in a world of billions, there are still many millions who suffer shortage of this vital commodity, or lack of access to good nutrition. There are many areas of action to alleviate this situation such as science programmes, biotechnology, improved animal husbandry, precision farming techniques, genetic modification, agricultural training, subsistence farming, garden farms, hydroponics, etc. But...
Understanding what it means to be a citizen goes to the heart of personal and national identity. It’s about legal equality for each citizen – which means that you are entitled to equal rights with regard to: the right to vote, the right to serve in the military, the right to marry a native citizen, and the right to fair and equal representation in government and the law. The Power of Inclusive Citizenship Inclusive citizenship creates...
Pinehaven Agricultural Trading is a vegetable project that belongs to a family of five beneficiaries (three youths and two females). The land in production comprises 5.5 hectares in Lynedoch situated approximately 7km outside Stellenbosch. The vegetable crops planted include spinach, beetroot, green pepper, carrots, etc. and are distributed to vegetable markets after every successful harvest. The project has created jobs for 15 permanent workers and 30 seasonal workers. It has unleashed its potential and demonstrated to be highly...
One of the greatest challenges our impoverished communities face is a lack of food security, and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) is attempting to turn this tide when it hosted the annual World Food Day celebration in Villiersdorp on Friday the 12th of October 2017. This was a well organised and attended event to promote sustainable food security amongst the Villiersdorp communities which crowded their stadium on the day to celebrate and receive food parcels and household...
Congratulations to the tri-partnership between Casidra, Hortgro and the WCDoA for winning the Silver Award for the Best Implemented Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme during the Western Cape Premier’s Annual Service Excellence Awards’ ceremony, which took place on the 28th of August 2017 in Cape Town. This ceremony was an opportunity for the Premier and broader public to acknowledge outstanding performances from public service professionals in the Western Cape Government. Delivering the keynote address, Premier Zille said: “As we...
The Casidra 2018-year commenced at the solid pace with which it concluded in 2017. Concluding 2017, Casidra was wholly immersed assisting the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) in supporting livestock farmers in the drought-stricken areas of the Western Cape (WC). The Emergency Drought Relief programme required that feed be sourced from various agribusinesses to provide support to the farmers that qualified for the programme. Some of these stock items gradually started running low and supply became problematic at...
The grim reality and probable effects of climate change, and especially if it was still disputed, started to be felt by everyone in the sector and most profoundly by the beneficiaries Casidra supports through the agriculture programmes the company implements. The drought conditions in the Western Cape province continue to place a damper on the agriculture sector in the province. Records confirmed that the current drought is the worst the region experienced in over 100 years. While measures are...
Casidra SOC Ltd obtained its 28th Unqualified Report for the 2016/17 financial year to maintain its outstanding clean record during the company’s Annual General Meeting held on the 28th of August 2017. The Board of Directors and Minister Alan Winde extended their vote of thanks to the Management team and staff of Casidra for their hard work. Casidra’s newly elected vice-chairperson of the Board, Ainsley Moos, officially handed the approved Annual Report 2016/17 on behalf of new chairperson, Dr Leonie Coetzee, to Minister Winde....
The Western Cape has been officially confirmed as the country’s Top Province in the 2015/16 provincial and local audit outcomes during a ceremony held on Monday, 10 April 2017 where deserving provincial and municipal departments as well as entities were awarded by representatives (Mr Solly Segooa and Ms Sharonne Adams) of the Auditor-General of SA. The Province also achieved clean audits for 12 of its 13 departments. A total of 23 out of 30 Western Cape municipalities were also awarded clean...
The Standing Committees on Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Economic Opportunities, Tourism and Agriculture, Human Settlements, Finance, Local Government and Transport and Public Works had a Joint Provincial Visit Week (16 – 19 May 2017) of the Service Delivery Cluster. This Joint Visit Week was a key mechanism established by the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) to achieve its Constitutional oversight mandate within the Province. It was intended to ensure that members of the Provincial Parliament, through its Standing...
Casidra’s Board Members and Management Team visited the following projects in the Kannaland region on 27 and 28 June 2017 to give the Board an insight and glimpse of the challenges experienced within projects. The first project to be visited was Amalienstein and the Board was overwhelmed by the dedicated staff who shared the challenges experienced on the farm. Amalienstein is a non-profitable farm with a relatively small of the dairy, high overhead costs as a result of the...
EROSION PROTECTION STRUCTURES IN BRANDWACHT RIVER Casidra is implementing a R24 million project to construct 27 gabion groynes over a stretch of 3 kilometers, which includes landscaping and planting along the Brandwacht River near Brandwacht. This is a Western Cape Department of Agriculture project and is situated in the vicinity of Ruitersbos between Mossel Bay and Kleinbrak, and the work is part of the Disaster Management Programme. It will continue to be in the construction phase and is expected...
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a legal requirement that necessitates an investigation into the potential impact planned activities may have on the environment in which they are to be effected. This process culminates into either the issuance of environmental authorisation for those activities and/or waste license. These investigations can take the form of either a Basic Assessment (BA) or a full scoping and EIA. The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP), has prescribed in...
For Casidra the 2017 year started on the back of another clean audit, the 27th in a row, and with staff returning from a well-deserved break from work, during December 2016. The year started with a frantic pace with numerous projects that were supplied with goods and services when suppliers started opening their businesses for the New Year. The holiday soon felt like a memory of long ago as the pace intensified. THE DROUGHT The drought that gripped the...
Casidra has reached the final stage of equipping 1300 beneficiaries with on-the-job-experience/training after placing them in provincial schools on behalf of the Western Cape Department of Education and the Jobs Fund during the past year. The full job assessment training was conducted for a number of days for the beneficiaries from Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha, Atlantis, Worcester, etc. The assessments covered basic training, which includes introduction to the programme, life skills and job readiness. The purpose of this exercise...
Casidra presented a financial training course to the staff of the West Coast Business Development Centre (WCBDC) in Saldanha Bay on the 1st of December 2016. Thirteen candidates, representing ten different businesses and the WCBDC, attended this training. The aim of this training was to equip the attendees with financial skills in order to manage their small/medium businesses. The content of the course was designed around the following topics, namely introduction into entrepreneurship and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs; financial...
The Olieboomskraal Project consists of seven small farmers from Slangrivier who lease 233 hectares of the Slangrivier commonage. In 2015/16, these farmers were funded by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture through the Grain CPAC to clear the overgrown fields and to plant wheat. A small percentage of the income was distributed to the farmers and the bulk will remain in their bank account at Sentraal-Suid Co-operative, which will be used to establish canola in 2017. Furthermore, an application...
Casidra successfully completed the facilities’ upgrade of CapeNature’s Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve for tourism purposes. Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve is located in the heart of the Little Karoo 15km south of Robertson on the McGregor road in the Breede River Valley region. It is ideal for mid-week and weekend getaways and offers a range of tourism activities and products which includes self-catering accommodation, bike trails, bird watching, brail trail, fly fishing, tennis court, interpretation centre, shaded picnic sites and walking and...
Casidra continues to implement rainwater tanks for food production on behalf of the Department of Water and Sanitation and Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency.These rainwater tanks have become a dire need in the current drought situation whereby every drop counts. This initiative aims to ensure the availability and supply of water as well as equitable and efficient provision of water services at local level and promote sustainable forest management. Water is life and all citizens are entitled to access...
Kraalbos Mankind has used natural medicines for centuries to cure different ailments. Before the advent of modern pharmaceutical technology, which resulted in the commercial manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs, doctors had to rely on natural techniques and herbal remedies to treat illnesses or heal injuries of their patients. Everything from the common cold to life-threatening conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease have been purported to be successfully treated without the use of current pharmaceutical medical equipment and pharmaceutical...
The rolling out of the Western Cape Schools Support Programme continues to bear fruit. The implementation agency of choice, Casidra, reported that thus far, approximately 1300 beneficiaries have been placed in the various schools across the Western Cape Province. According to Casidra’s Senior Project Manager, Leon Faro, these beneficiaries are coping extremely well and there are no red flags reported besides positive feedback from various school principals and other stakeholders. Faro said, “We strive to pay stipends to the...
Casidra has completed the implementation of 20 unit horse stables for the Makwena Family Trust project situated in Beaufort West in the Central Karoo. Makwena Family Trust is a smallholder farm and was acquired by three beneficiaries through the Land Reform Agricultural Development Programme. This project is approximately three hectares in size and breeds horses. Currently there are about 20 horses on the farm that are used to teach the local children horse riding skills. The farm also produces...
