Dowry is Going Back to the Plowing Fields

The National Minister of Agriculture Ms Lulu Xingwana announced the "Ilima / Letsema" campaign on 4 November 2006, and said the following:

"To the men and women in our rural areas, those in communal areas, in our peri-urban areas, those with land next to the cities - LET NO LAND LIE FALLOW! Go back to the land and unleash this productive asset to feed our families and communities, create employment and contribute towards economic growth and development of local and rural economies.

We will, through this campaign, build on and leverage programmes already existing in the provinces - programmes that offer support to small scale farming in the form of fencing, seeds, fertilizers, extension support, and irrigation as an example. We will have Ilima/Letsema in all Provinces during November.

To the young people of our country also, we say to them they must roll up their sleeves and go to the fields. We say to them agriculture is cool!"

In reaction to the National Minister's call to become actively involved in her campaign for November ("we are going back to the fields to plough")

On Monday, 20 November (09:30 - 12:00), Minister Cobus Dowry and the Management Team of the Department of Agriculture in the Western Cape will be putting hands in the soil at the Riverside Food garden Project in Khayelitsha.

We want to invite all media people to come and witness this event and become part of the drive towards the establishment of a well organised Food Security System throughout the Western Cape.

The Riverside Project is just off Spine Road. For further details you can contact me at 084 604 6701.