The joint indigenous veld goat incubation project, which kicked off in May 2024 in the Barolong Boo Seleka kingdom at Thaba’Nchu, east of Bloemfontein in the Free State, shows strong growth with 19 goat kids (10 rams and 9 ewes) born since.
The initial herd of 21 Nguni indigenous veld goats (20 ewes and 1 ram) has consequently grown to 40.
The kidding rate of 95% for the season is yet another success of the joint agricultural development projects undertaken by the office of Kgosi Gaboilelwe Moroka in collaboration with AfriForum and other role players in the agricultural value chain since 2020 in the Thaba’Nchu area.
The aim of this incubation project is to equip local smallholder farmers with knowledge and skills to develop subsistence and small-scale farming into profitable enterprises, and to establish a herd of goats that will eventually develop into a sustainable goat farm and produce goats to launch further development projects at grassroots level.
“This goat farming incubation project is one of a number of agricultural projects that form part of our plan of building a self-sufficient, peaceful, stable, secure and self-sustainable nation. Food security plays a key role in achieving these goals and it is therefore critical to promote agriculture through an approach that considers the entire agricultural value chain. It is important for me as a leader to ensure that Barolong Boo Seleka are able to take care of themselves and this approach of self-sufficiency should actually be promoted everywhere else. Most of the challenges we face, such as high crime, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and unemployment, can be remedied through this approach. We must assist government to bring solutions, acknowledging that it will take time, but what is important is taking the initiative and implementing. We should also encourage communities, especially the youth, and I’m glad that already next year, we will be starting with the village to village capacitation, which will include genetic improvement of local goats as well. The intention is to roll this plan out over the next three years, which means we would have covered all rural villages in Thaba’Nchu. We thank all our partners on this journey, we appreciate their support. May our faithful God continue to bless this journey,” says Kgosi Gaboilelwe Moroka, leader of the Barolong Boo Seleka nation in Thaba’Nchu.
“The success of this project excites us. There are of course several factors that make the project grow – the biggest contributing factor is the way in which ownership is taken of the project and the drive to make it sustainable and profitable. It is a privilege for AfriForum to support Kgosi Moroka and her community to realise their vision of self-sufficiency and thereby be part of this success story,” says Nantes Kelder, National Project Coordinator of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum.
“Saai is grateful for the opportunity to make a contribution to support small-scale farmers in their effort to improve and commercialise their livestock farming operations,” says Leon Lourens, Development Coordinator of Saai, one of the project role players.
“Joint community projects like this, which are carried out for the tangible benefit of the communities involved, are the outcomes of AfriForum, and Afrikaners in general’s, choice, and endeavour to continue to coexist peacefully and justly with other cultural communities here at the southern tip of Africa. A new social order, based on community federalism, is taking shape as we succeed in building a network of cultural communities at grassroots level. In this network we support each other to ensure a future for the children of all the communities in the country,” says Barend Uys, Head of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum.
The joint incubation project is one of several agricultural and heritage projects that flow from the mutual recognition and cooperation treaty that was concluded in 2022 between AfriForum and the Barolong Boo Seleka.
