l Only share identity information when necessary. Credit card numbers should never be given over the telephone unless you have initiated the call. Same goes for the Internet.
l Beware of “shoulder surfers” who swipe your bank card number while peering over your shoulder at cash machines.
l Make sure your letter box is secure. In the US, the second most successful tool for thieves to obtain identity information is through stolen mail.
l Computer users should install a firewall on their PCs to prevent unauthorised access to stored information.
l Remove your name from mailing lists as that reduces the number of commercial entities having access to the identity information.
l If you are really paranoid about your own information, shred any identity information before it goes in the bin.
l Business clients, customers and patients should insist that all data be shredded before being thrown out, and that all retained data be kept in secure storage.
For further information, visit: www.consumer.gov/idtheft
@Great leap forward for KZN
An agricultural scheme launched in northern KwaZulu-Natal could transform the area into a production powerhouse
Niki Moore
The ambitious plans for the Makhatini Flats in northern KwaZulu-Natal create irresistible mental pictures of Roosevelt’s New Deal and Mao’s Great Leap Forward. The mind’s eye sees disciplined rows of plants stretching into the distance, ponds full of fish, and machinery churning out products. Yet the planning for this agricultural scheme has reached an advanced stage and, if realised, might transform the untidy flood plain into South Africa’s breadbasket.
The proposed R400-million investment plans for the area were unveiled at a workshop last week. KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Agriculture Narend Singh is bullish about the prospects: “We believe that the Makhatini region is about to be developed in a manner that we have waited for for more than 30 years. We have here a combination of vast tracts of good land, unlimited water and a tropical climate. We are going to overcome the distance from markets by processing and adding value to products on the spot.”
Singh addressed a gathering of farmers, traditional leaders, government officials, investors, financiers and members of the public at the beginning of the two-day agricultural workshop.
During the workshop four schemes were outlined fishing, cotton production, oil extraction, and growing paprika and nuts.
At the top of the list is a proposed R275-million investment in aquaculture also known as fish farming. Project leader Stan Szmyrgala says high-yield fish-farming is the answer to the world’s need for low-cost protein. “We will be breeding fresh-water tilapia for export to Europe, the United States and the Far East. In this scheme, the end-product will be the high-quality fish fillets, which will be fast-frozen, packaged under conditions that conform to European Union standards, containerised and shipped out from Richard’s Bay.”
“We are looking at a very intensive industry that will deliver about 5000 tonnes of export-quality fish fillets a year,” says Szmyrgala.
The project is expected to create 2800 jobs and will support a veritable village of workers, with facilities for health care, education and recreation.
The second project involves a proposed R100-million cotton gin and cotton/winter wheat-growing scheme.
The scheme will create about 9000 seasonal jobs and cover 6000ha. Instead of the small plots that are normally associated with community farming, the cotton farms will form an estate with large land blocks. Equipment for the cotton gin has been acquired at a cost of R30-million and will begin to process the small quantities of cotton being grown in existing small-grower schemes.
Third on the agenda for the Makhatini Flats is a R40-million essential-oils extraction scheme.
The growing demand for essential oils in northern-hemisphere markets provides an opportunity to make Makhatini products competitive.
The project is run in conjunction with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and will kick-start with the planting of 18 different species of oil-bearing plants in a 12ha trial. An assessment of the successful plant species will then be made and an additional 600ha will be planted by hand from nursery-raised cuttings. The plantations will be completely organic and a distillery within the farm will be used for processing.
Initially, the scheme will lease land from the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, but once the crops are under way and the snags have been ironed out, employees will lease their own plots and become part of a cooperative.
Gert Gauche of the Vryheid Fresh Produce Market has set up an agency with the City Deep Fresh Produce Market in Gauteng to buy up the produce from Makhatini and get it to the vast market of Gauteng. To circumvent the distance between the farms and the markets, each growing scheme has a processing and storage facility, which will enable the farms to enter the export market.
Singh says all products are to be distinctly branded as coming from Makhatini in order to give the area international recognition as a production powerhouse.
Singh insists that the projects must be environmentally friendly and benefit the surrounding communities. “Every development on the Makhathini Flats will be pre-assessed for environmental impact and nothing will be permitted that would pollute or degrade the environment. Risk is simply not acceptable.”
He says profits must translate into better living standards, better schools and clinics for the people of Makhatini. “The last thing we want is for the Makhathini Flats to become a place of exploitation, where the inhabitants feel a sense of injustice and grievance.”
A steering committee was elected at the end of the two-day workshop. Its tasks include an examination of the existing infrastructure of the Makhatini Flats, setting up investment guidelines, making recommendations regarding land tenure, establishing farmers’ requirements and analysing existing markets.
Singh said private sector involvement will drive the growth of the projects. “We want to create a situation where people are driven by profit-share in order to realise our Green Revolution.”