Asgisa EC CEO says that the optimal use of arable land in the province could spell the difference between wealth creation and sinking further into poverty.

The current global food shortage which is pushing up South African food prices could have been minimised if the country's rural residents grew their own crops, said Asgisa Eastern Cape chief executive, Simphiwe Somdyala.

Somdyala took the helm of the Asgisa EC in January this year, after the parastatal was launched by former premier Nosimo Balindlela last year.

He will oversee the roll-out of the province's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of SA (Asgisa) projects, which include expanding the former Transkei's timber growing areas and creating a large-scale irrigation project on the Umzimvubu River to grow crops for biofuel production and food security.

Talking to Business Dispatch, Somdyala made it clear that agricultural development was high on his agenda and argued that the optimal use of arable land in the province could spell the difference between wealth creation and sinking further into poverty and a "dependency mindset" in rural areas.

"There is no reason why in the rural context today, we can't have farmer co-operatives with communities creating wealth and jobs. Of course, at this stage, the reality is that we do not have skills," he said.

Somdyala said Asgisa EC had identified "masses" of land in the Transkei and was looking at a three to five year timeframe to get the planned projects up and running in a sustainable way. And the scale of their planning is large.

"A single agricultural village will not make much difference or create jobs for many. Our vision is to create sustainable economic development zones," said Somdyala.

He said the land they were looking at - more than a million hectares in size - held vast amounts of unlocked potential.

"The Umzimvubu Basin is the biggest area with the highest rainfall in South Africa. It has the biggest unexploited natural resource like water," he added.

Somdyala said the Umzimvubu project was expected to have spin-offs in agri-tourism. He said that the ripple effects would have significant impact on the Alfred Nzo, Ukhahlamba, Chris Hani and Amathole municipal areas.

"Biofuels also present a market opportunity for farmers. They are not a threat to food security. In fact, I'm convinced that we are going to increase food security with integrated cropping, which looks at inter-cropping maize, soya beans and canola. Each of those food stocks enriches the other. Soya bean and canola act as fertiliser for maize.

"They're also good feedstock for livestock and will provide good quality livestock programmes," Somdyala said.

Apart from agriculture, Asgisa EC also has its eyes set on power generation, with studies conducted in conjunction with the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry revealing that almost 2000MW in hydro-electricity could be generated through the Umzimvubu scheme.

Somdyala is a commerce graduate and holds an MBA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has experience in development in the African continent and development finance in South Africa.

In a further update, the Herald reports that two AsgiSA projects, the development of the Mzimvubu Basin, are steaming ahead with the province‘s rural finance corporation Uvimba calling for bids for professional consultancy services for the social facilitation, cadastral surveying, tendering process and construction supervision for 26 AsgiSA fencing projects in the OR Tambo district. The project seeks to develop the enormous agricultural potential of the area.