Living Land visits the Eastern Cape - Episode 18 on 17 January 2015

Living Land visits a feedlot project in the Eastern Cape which is part of the National Red Meat Development Program. This programme works with emerging and communal farmers to increase the income they earn from raising cattle, and simultaneously speeds up the rural development process.
Livestock farmers in the remote areas of our country have a hard time selling their cattle, especially if they are not close to auction or abattoir facilities. Many of these farmers can only sell their cattle to local buyers; this severely restricts demand. Often cattle are only slaughtered after they have died. In many instances rural farmers only have limited access to pasture so they can only keep a few cattle. At Gxwal’ubovu village the farmers are taught new ways to raise cattle. Many of the villagers have already benefitted from an impressive low-cost feedlot system implemented by the National Agricultural Marketing Council. This project is specifically aimed at helping emerging and communal farmers produce better quality animals and to have improved access to formal red meat markets.

Living Land series 8 is screened on Saturday mornings at 05:30 on SABC2, tune in for some insightful and informative episodes.