By Celani Sikhakhane
- Villagers in Hluhluwe are farming to fight poverty and unemployment in the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality.
- The municipality says farming is now their main economy as investors stay away due to crime and border smuggling.
With jobs hard to find and poverty rising fast, villagers in the rural areas of Hluhluwe in northern KwaZulu-Natal are turning to farming to survive.
The people living under the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality have formed agricultural cooperatives to grow crops and build a local economy.
Recently, these farming groups received tractors, water tankers and other tools from the municipality to help them continue their agricultural work.
One of the cooperative members, Xolile Mthethwa, said they are doing this to bring jobs and hope to their struggling community.
“We encourage people to form cooperatives so they can apply for funding. We are focusing on agriculture to create jobs since we are in deep rural areas,” she said.
Mayor Comfort Khumalo said that due to high crime levels in the region, outside investors are avoiding the municipality. That has left agriculture as the community’s main economic hope.
“We want our people to make farming their source of income,” said Khumalo. “We handed over four tractors and urged cooperatives to make sure they help locals and not charge high fees for equipment use.”
The Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality is one of the poorest in the province, with high unemployment, limited water supply and rising crime.
Khumalo said criminal activity on the nearby border is making things worse. Cars are reportedly being smuggled through Kodi Bay into Mozambique.
He also raised concern about the rising number of undocumented foreign nationals in the villages.
Despite these challenges, residents say they are determined to farm their way to a better future.
Pictured above: Local farmers receive tractors to boost agriculture in Hluhluwe.
Image source: Supplied
