Former Transkei soya bean crop in Nqadu.

Rural development agency AsgiSA Eastern Cape (EC) says it expects a 150 ton yield from the soya bean harvest underway in Nqadu Transkei.

According to the development agency, RNRF, a Rainbow Natural Renewable Fuel (RNRF) has put forward a sealed offer of R2 500 per ton, says AsgiSA EC marketing and communications manager NobaTembu Pako.

"The price per ton offered by RNRF is R2500 delivered to PE and we are expecting 150 tons of soya beans," Pako says.

Hand harvesting by community members ensures minimal shattering related loss while ensuring that the community take ownership of the project.

One hundred and sixty nine community members mostly youth and women have been employed in the soya bean harvest since the beginning of June. Though the employment is seasonal, community leader Gibson Mbombo says it has alleviated some of the social challenges the community faces.

"This project has been good for the community. Most of the people employed here are youth who used to loaf around drinking with nothing to look forward to. Now they are doing something productive with their time," Mbombo says.

Mbombo adds that apart from the soya beans the community expected to reap a maize crop in the near future, another project AsgiSA EC spearheads.

"It is because of AsgiSA EC that we are finally making gainful use of our land," says Mbombo. "We did not have money or oxen to plough our fields before, so all this land was lying fallow."

The Nqadu community contributed 200 hectares of land while AsgiSA EC supplied the equipment, seedlings, expertise and pays the workers.

The community has a ten percent stake in the project while AsgiSA EC has holds 90 percent. Mbombo says the remaining challenges were to get proper fencing to keep livestock away from the fields and curb theft of crops especially maize.

Nokwanda Namba, one of the community members working in the harvest says the temporary employment will bring some financial relief to her family.

Like many of the women working the fields, her husband was retrenched from his mining job when the economy faltered during the global economic crisis in 2008. The family has relied on social grants since then.

"Before this job we only relied on handouts and child support grants," Namba says. "My husband is unemployed since he got retrenched from the mines. This project gives us hope that things can turn around for the better for us. If we have more of these we can begin to change our lives," says Namba.

Pako adds that hail damage that hit the project in January 2010 was minimal and that there had been some recovery over time.

Short term insurer Santam had estimated the damage at 28 percent at the time, Pako says.

"According to Santam, the hail damaged was about 28% of the planted area and the crop has recovered to some extent because it was still in vegetative stage," says Pako.