The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture officially launched the R100 million worth 2025/26 Cropping Season in Bhaziya Village, Mthatha last week. The event, held during World Food Security Month, served as a platform for MEC for
Agriculture, Nonceba Kontsiwe, to champion the role of youth in the sector and detail the provincial government 's multi-pronged approach to tackling food insecurity and poverty.
MEC Kontsiwe, committed to encouraging and supporting young people to join agriculture, deliberately used the youth-owned agribusiness, Jay Jay Farming, in Mputi village near Mthatha, to showcase excellence and the opportunities available in the sector. “We are here to showcase to the farmers that if they start something the department is here to support them and we are using these young farmers who have done a lot, to showcase excellence. I am glad to see young men and women working so hard”.
She further said agriculture was the only way to go and that young people needed to look at the sector as the economic driver of the province.
Kontsiwe addressed the notion that the sector is only for the uneducated, urging youth to stop treating it with disdain and highlighting that mentorship programmes exist to assist new entrants in producing good quality yields for better income.
Meanwhile, Jay Jay Farming co-owner, Sipho Joyi, provided an example of a success, detailing the enterprise’s production of grains which include yellow and white maize and soya beans as well as vegetables like potatoes, cabbages, spinach and green mealies. He said it has been seven years since they have been doing this. “We have been through difficult terrains, but we stood up and continued. Today, at least we are able to put food on the table for ourselves and the families of those we have hired,” said Joyi.
