Africa Economic Development Strategies (AEDS), the Centre for African Governance and Development (CAGD) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and the Office of the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal developed an Agribusiness and Industrial Cluster Investment Prospectus for Jozini, in Umkhanyakude District, as the investment arm of the Poverty Alleviation and Livelihoods Programme (PALP). Supported by a public-private partnership, the cluster seeks to integrate subsistence-oriented smallholder farmers into commercially viable enterprises, building on a pilot that combined farmer training, scheduled vaccination, supplementary feeds, improved breeding stock and market linkages. Local leadership has already set aside 10.6 hectares of land for the project.
The cluster is built around five connected enterprises. The poultry enterprise will operate five fowl runs of 10,000 birds each, producing 50,000 birds per cycle across seven cycles a year, or 350,000 birds annually, with the potential to guarantee farmers a net income of at least R3.15 million per year. The goat enterprise will distribute 60 improved Boer he-goats to raise the quality, size and drought resilience of local herds, alongside professional farmer training. Horticulture will place two hectares under intensive agroecological production using chicken and goat manure, linked to 150 vegetable outgrowers farming 10 hectares in total, and is expected to generate at least R810,000 every three months. An aggregation and beneficiation centre, with a slaughter pole, cold chain and warehousing, will help smallholders process, store and ship their produce to lucrative markets, while a stock feed and drug manufacturing unit, supported by five hectares of pasture and more than 200 contracted soybean and maize outgrowers, will supply affordable inputs. Solar-powered boreholes and solar energy will support all five enterprises, and the manure-to-fertiliser loop makes the model a circular, climate-smart one.
The prospectus presents a total start-up investment of R69.55 million, with business plans available for each enterprise and the overall portfolio at pre-feasibility stage. Incremental turnover is projected to grow from R11.3 million in Year 1 to R30.781 million in Year 5, with a portfolio internal rate of return of 14 percent, a net present value of R4.439 million and a payback period of 3.68 years. Enterprise-level returns range from 12 percent for horticulture and feed manufacturing to 22 percent for the aggregation centre. The cluster is projected to create 215 direct jobs in Year 1, rising to 760 by Year 5, with women accounting for 395 of these, and to reach 7,200 subsistence-oriented households by Year 5, of which 4,320 are women.
The overall objective of PALP is to improve food security, dietary diversity, access to healthcare and incomes for vulnerable households, with a specific focus on women. The programme contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13 and 15. Environmental, social and governance considerations are built into the design, from climate-smart agriculture and renewable energy to inclusive community engagement and a governance structure drawing on DUT, AEDS, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Office of the Premier and community representatives, with capacity building intended to sustain the project beyond its five-year implementation period.
The project is guided by a multidisciplinary technical advisory team led by Professor Gift Mugano as Team Leader, with Professor Fulufhelo Netswera, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences at DUT, as Project Director, Dr Luca Crudeli as Chief Advisor on market systems development, and William Zirebwa as Technical Advisor on agribusiness development. Specialists in finance and strategy, animal science, training and capacity building, research and knowledge management, programming and value chain development complete the team.
