26 January 2024
With the new school year under way, the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) says high schools across the country are offering a new qualification in citrus production. More than 450 pupils at 16 schools will be enrolled in the Citrus Secondary programme.
Pioneered by the Citrus Academy, a CGA subsidiary, the Citrus Secondary programme provides an opportunity for pupils to achieve a recognised plant production qualification while at school.
The schools in citrus-growing areas that will implement the programme are in Bonnievale and Riversdale in the Western Cape; Patensie, Kirkwood and Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape; Umzimkulu in KwaZulu-Natal; Kakamas in the Northern Cape; and Hoedspruit, Nwamitwa and Tzaneen in Limpopo.
The two-year programme is aimed at pupils in grades 10 and 11 and modules are timed to coincide with the citrus production cycle.
Learners will be introduced to topics such as enterprise planning, irrigation, financial management, pest management and plant manipulation. The programme is aligned to the curriculum and can be used as part of the Agricultural Management Practices subject. Alternatively, it can be implemented as an extramural activity through which pupils can attain a valuable qualification.
Jacomien de Klerk, general manager of the Citrus Academy, says: “It opens a path into an industry that can offer so many opportunities. It addresses a challenge that many school-leavers unfortunately face: having few marketable skills while not having access to tertiary education.”
De Klerk says Citrus Secondary supports the CGA goals of transforming the citrus industry and creating a passionate generation of new entrants into the sector.
The programme was piloted last year in two Sunday’s River Valley schools and one in Humansdorp. Theo Bezuidenhout, a community development coordinator from the non-profit company Sundays River Valley Collaborative says: “We’ve learned so much about how to make the programme work practically during the pilot phase, but what we really found out was that there is an immense interest in and need for this type of qualification. In one school, registrations doubled as things progressed.
“This is about recalibrating the education system, working with the local community and local government, so the system can have a systemic effect on things like employment prospects.”
The Citrus Academy will provide the content, assessment and administration for the programme through its e-learning platform, which also offers pupils supporting information, videos, audio clips and interactive material.
The citrus industry exported 165,1 million 15kg cartons for delivery to global markets in 2023. It sustains 140 000 livelihoods on farms and brings in more than R30 billion in annual export revenue. Projections indicate the industry can add 100 000 jobs in the next eight years if all role players work together towards increased market access and improved export logistics.
The CGA says the Citrus Secondary programme has the potential to make a significant contribution to growing demand for skilled workers.
