Poverty alleviation, annual report 2005

Abstract

During the research period the project was funded by the CSIR and in 2001 the Poverty Alleviation programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) became involved in the project. The project was funded by DST to the amount of kR5700 over a period of four years. The primary objective was to establish a cashmere industry in South Africa by involving and training sufficiently large number of farmers and by a selective/upgrading programme in order to produce higher yields of better quality cashmere fibre together with the establishment of small agro-industries which convert the fibre into final products. Cashmere harvesting is highly labour intensive and is ideally suited for small farmers who have a small number of goats and have close contact with their animals, enabling them to identify those animals with good cashmere producing potential and to know exactly when optimum shedding takes place at which stage the goats should then be combed. The utilization of the fibres as an additional source of income would make the goat flocks more profitable. Furthermore the establishment of small agro-industries, which convert the fibre into the final product, with specific emphasis on tourist and export textiles, increase income generating and employment opportunities in rural areas substantially.