Eastern Cape farmers may soon be able to mill their maize closer to home – and prevent millions of rands from draining out of the province.

The Department of Agriculture is currently negotiating to buy two defunct privately owned maize mills in Kokstad and Butterworth, as well as setting up eight mini-mills in various parts of the province, according to the Department of Agriculture’s head of technical services, John Allwood.

He declined to release further details of the deal but said it could be signed within the next two weeks.

With a minimum capacity of 32 000 tons a year these could service up to 4000 farmers from around Lusikisiki, Flagstaff, Umzimkulu, Butterworth, Dutywa, Mthatha and Cofimvaba.

There are currently no operational mills in the area and producers must transport all maize to Bloemfontein or elsewhere in the country for milling at a cost of R250 per ton, according to Allwood.

With 40000 to 50000 tons being milled in the province, this is effectively bleeding about R12,5 million out of the province each year and preventing small-scale maize farmers from getting their crops to the mill.

Considering that the province consumes 600000 tons a year, R150m is being incurred in transport costs.

Allwood said there was currently a surplus of maize in the Eastern Cape because farmers were unable to get it processed locally.

“It costs us R250 to transport a ton of maize from the Free State to this province. This could bring a huge economic injection into this province,” said Allwood.

In a further effort to bring the mills closer to small-scale farmers the department will set up at least eight mini-mills at most maize-producing villages throughout the Eastern Cape.

“These mini-mills can produce a maximum of half a ton of maize daily and this translates to about 100000 tons per annum,” he said.

Allwood said the province had the potential to produce more than 600000 tons of maize a year.

The proposed purchases are the latest development in the five-year Massive Food Production Programme launched by former Agriculture MEC Max Mamase in 2003 to stimulate the use of suitable productive land in the rural areas of the former homelands.

The current target area for the project is the Eastern Transkei or Pondoland area, where Mthatha area police commissioner Johan Kapp earlier said dagga growing had become a culture and most people were economically dependant on the dagga trade.

Grain South Africa (GSA) gave the plan to revive the mills the thumbs up.

“It certainly is good news for the Eastern Cape. We have been very worried about the non-profitability of maize production in the province for some time now and maybe this is a step in the right direction,” said GSA chairperson Bully Bothma.

It also follows a pilot project at Keiskammahoek, where a mini-mill was set up last year.

“This is just a mini-mill, which the department has been piloting to see if it would be successful ... (and) we were very pleased with its success,” Allwood said.

In an effort to ensure the success of the programme, the department has entered into strategic partnerships with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and the Eastern Cape Rural Finance Corporation to establish storage, processing and marketing facilities for maize production.

ECDC chief executive officer Kevin Wakeford, who is in favour of establishing maize production as a primary industry in the province together with processing and distribution, was delighted with the programme which he believes will help the province deliver 300 000 tons a year in the short term.

“The introduction of the mills will help open up market access to the province’s maize farmers,” Wakeford said.

The introduction of the mills comes as maize production in the Eastern Cape has dropped to 40000 tons for the last financial year.

Department of Agriculture spokesperson Mthobeli Mxotwa confirmed it was down by 10 000 tons from the previous year and attributed the decline to drought that hit the Pondoland area badly.

It was also because “some farmers started planting very late”.