About Us - Agri Dwala Guest Farm
Agridwala Guest Farm is one of the projects of Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd. It's mission is to get more women involved and also utilising the house on the farm Karsrivier.
Agri Dwala (PTY) LTD
Introduction
The holding company, Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd, was established in March 2006. The main objective of the company was to rent the townlands around the town of Napier from the Cape Agulhas Municipality for a group of previously disadvantaged people and to assist them in farming the land. The grain farming was managed and produced by Jacobus van Zyl Trust, where the Trust let all needed grain farming equipment to the group on a commercial basis.
The Agri Dwala group succeeded
in this objective over the past 5 years. Not only did they succeed in
farming the Napier townlands, they also succeed in buying two farms,
tractors, a harvester, a truck, and some pick-ups. They managed to extend
the herd of cattle to 200 heads and the flock of sheep to 250 ewes.
An amount of R1,5 million was invested especially to develop the Agri
Dwala group into a leading agricultural business in the Overberg. The
application consisted of a Mac Don self-propelled windrower, 300 Dohne
Merino ewes, restoration of the guest-house (run by the ladies), a
concrete floor for the asbestos shed, and new fencing. A proper budgeting
plan is attached to this document.
Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd has three
shareholders:
- Agri Dwala Workers trust with twenty-nine (29)
beneficiaries: 70 %
- Jacobus van Zyl Trust: 15 %
- Piet
Blom: 15 %
The 29 beneficiaries of the trust are all from the
coloured and black communities of Napier and the surrounding farms. Some
were living and working in town, but were raising calves on the outskirts
of the town, and the rest of the beneficiaries were farm workers living on
the farm Hansieskloof.
Mr. J.N. (Kosie) van Zyl is a commercial
farmer in the Napier area, and Mr. Piet Blom is a UAP Crop Care agent in
the Overberg and lives in Napier.
Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd submitted a
successful tender in 2006 for renting the townlands of Napier for a period
of 5 years, with an option to rent for the subsequent 5 years. The land
consists of 643 ha of arable land.
History and Background
In March 2006, Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd started out without cattle or
implements of their own. The beneficiaries let their own cattle out to the
company, and some of the beneficiaries managed to get loans from the Land
Bank to buy more cattle. From the first year onwards, the Overberg
Agri-company provided the Agri Dwala group with a production loan to
provide for all the input needed to successfully produce grain. They
provided the finances by means of a session that they hold on the harvest.
The Agri Dwala (Pty) Ltd group managed to buy an Isuzu pick-up truck
in the first year and their own Case IH 2188 harvester in the second year
in 2007.
In 2008 the Agri Dwala group rented two
farms comprising approximately 100 ha from two small-scale farmers, and
planted grain on it. The small-scale farmers are still farming with sheep,
and Agri Dwala plants grain on their land on a rotation system.
With this history, the group managed to successfully tender for a nearby
farm, Jafters Krantz, in 2008. Agri Dwala Properties (Pty) Ltd bought the
farm in 2009, with the help of the Department of Land Affairs through the
LRAD program, where the beneficiaries of Agri Dwala Trust are the sole
shareholders in this new farm.
During the next year, 2010, the Agri
Dwala Properties (Pty) Ltd Company bought another farm, Karsrivier, with
the financial help of Pioneer Foods.