The Hollywood Foundation, in partnership with the Dolphin Coast Equestrian Club (DCEC), is thrilled to announce the successful completion of the first stage of their comprehensive agricultural training programme.
The organisation hosted handover ceremony on Monday, June to honour 26 individuals from underprivileged communities who have successfully completed their training in grain production.
Hollywood Foundation’s CSI Manager Mpho Dintwa, said this milestone event, marked a significant step towards empowering local communities with essential agricultural skills. The 26 graduates are now equipped to apply their expertise in modern agricultural practices, contributing to the local economy and enhancing food security in the region.
The agricultural initiative funded by the Hollywood Foundation with a contribution of R488 000, is a three-phase project that aims to provide skills, resources and crop production to the community of the Boomplats, just outside Mashishing.
“The Mpumalanga Growth Project is a 1st agricultural project that we’re supporting as Foundation CSI. This was informed by the need to encourage food security while capacitating small scale farmers with critical skills to improve their farming activities. Part of this project is to have these farmers participating in economic activities that ultimately contribute to job creation and long-term sustainability. It is exciting to know that through this project, community members that have been upskilled will lead from the front during the second phase of the project with their newly acquired skills,”
“The second phase of the project will see the earmarked land being transformed into a crop farming project that will benefit the community of Dinkwanyane, while creating the much-needed jobs. One is confident that the structures that have been put in place by the community such as the Dinkwanyane Farming Forum, will ensure that the objectives of this project are met and the community at large benefits as intended,” she said.
Lunga Sokhela, Chairman – Dolphin Coast Equestrian Club (DCEC) said, “Our mission is to go to rural communities and uplift them because they have access to land, but they may not have the requisite skills and funding to make use of this land. We want to ensure that they can create a commercial agricultural venture, so that this area can be economically uplifted.”
