ECRDA repurposed to drive agri commercialisation

The Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA) is being repositioned to lead an agricultural commercialisation strategy aimed at unlocking the economic potential of the province's highly fertile land.

- Octavia Avesca Spandiel

Speaking to Farmer's Weekly, ECRDA CEO Simpiwe Somdyala said it was time to confront the paradox of vast fertile land coexisting with some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country.

“Despite being blessed with some of South Africa’s most arable land, our agricultural potential remains largely dormant; an untapped wellspring of prosperity waiting to be unleashed,” Somdyala said.

He added that for decades, farming in rural parts of the province had largely been synonymous with subsistence, a system that has locked many families into cycles of poverty.

The repurposed ECRDA now carried a clear mandate to lead the shift from survivalist farming to full-scale commercial agriculture.