Twenty seven farmers in the Lenye district of Keiskammahoek are helping the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and its partners establish a multi-million rand paprika farming initiative in the area.

The corporation is collaborating with Siyakholwa Development Foundation (SDF), the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), ARDRI as well as Natpro Spicenet, a KwaZulu-Natal spice company.

The farmers and 405 other locals have just celebrated the start of their first harvest of Papri Queen sweet peppers or paprika as it is known in its final form.

This is a meager nine months since the farmers were given the thumbs-up to plant 25 hectares of paprika.

The former subsistence farmers will soon benefit from lucrative paprika prices which now stand at R8 500 per ton. SDF estimates farmers who have a yield of between 1,5 and 4 tons annually could expect a turnover between R14 000 and R34 000 per hectare. Planting starts in October; harvesting follows four months later and continues until May and June.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), which provided R1,4 million in funding, “took interest in this project because of the product’s high value” according to DST official Gugu Zwane.

Natpro Spicenet’s Dale Shipman says sweet peppers are used as both a colourant and spice and there is a good local market for it which is being assisted by a global shortage.

Furthermore South Africa’s quality is far better than many other countries.

Shipman is upbeat about the Keiskammahoek project who says that the area “is highly suitable. The climate, soil and market are right.” This was borne out by research undertaken by Sasol three years ago who funded the business plan.

He says Natpro Spicenet, which is likely to buy Keiskammahoek’s crop, would consider establishing a factory in the Eastern Cape if there was involvement from all stakeholders and the hectarage increased.

This appears highly likely and ECDC is working closely with SDF in planning the project’s expansion, particularly in its valued-added component.

SDF’s Brian du Plessis believes that the project has great potential and “aims to increase the production to 50 hectares this year and bumping it up to 75 hectares in 2006.

“The five-year goal is to have 500 hectares under paprika cultivation but this would require 30 million seedlings which is a huge logistical challenge.

These logistics also need to factor in that paprika is planted every third year in the same lands to avoid diseases and replace certain nutrients in the soil,” adds Du Plessis.

He says this challenge creates an opportunity to establish more nurseries since the current providers Loan Oak Faming Trust, University of Fort Hare and Fort Cox Agricultural College are unlikely to be able to meet this demand.

Since the start of the project, farmers have received training from Natro Spicenet and local SDF agricultural graduate Mhlangabezi Mpangeva. The foundation also took some farmers to Welkom to visit a successful paprika project.

Testament to this training is that almost all the crop which has been picked to-date is grade one quality. Furthermore, women farmers, although a small group, have excelled and took the top two awards awarded by SDF.

Another ingredient of success lies in the project’s consultative approach. “Farmers are appreciative that they have been consulted throughout the process,” says Du Plessis.

SDF and its farmers have also proactively engaged organisations for funding in order to ensure smoother and larger operations as well as negotiating with Eskom to bring down the cost of power which is a huge cost element.

Other short- term goals include sourcing funding for the creation of a vegetable market, upgrading facilities, improving its seedling capacity and investigating the prospects of a shade cloth planting.

ECDC is also looking at rotation crops which will complement the sweet pepper crop. The corporation also hopes to assist in reducing current transport costs.