Commercialising communal goat farming in KwaZulu-Natal

Since 1975, a rural development project in KwaZulu-Natal has been helping communal farmers improve their production of indigenous goats. Today, these farmers are focused on herd health and adopting technology to gain market access and establish small businesses that support their industry. Susan Marais reports.

- Susan Marais

FAST FACTS

Communal goat farmers are now actively selecting whiter animals for breeding purposes, as they are more valuable to their buyers.

The animals are dipped either weekly or fortnightly.

WhatsApp groups are helping farmers connect directly to their market.

In KwaZulu-Natal, a small free market revolution is taking place, driven by communal farmers in Msinga Local Municipality. And while the scale of communal and commercial farmers’ operations might differ, they have two things in common: the inescapable reality that cash is king, and the fact that the health of their animals is vital.

This soon became apparent during Farmer’s Weekly’s recent visit to Msinga’s goat farmers. For the past 47 years, the Mdukatshani Rural Development Project (MRDP), a non-governmental organisation, has been helping these and other farmers to improve their lives, livelihoods, and productivity by using locally available resources to ensure long-term sustainability.

“We’re involved in 150 communities from Weenen to Jozini,” says Rauri Alcock, the project’s director. Alcock has been involved in land reform since the 1980s and believes the fundamental way in which it has been handled is wrong.

“The reality is that we don’t have five million farms,” says Alcock. “We’re living in a portland-reform world and need to ask: now what? We have educated youths and land available, but our extension services are non-existent.”