The North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched a pilot coffee production project in Mahikeng.
The initiative, in partnership with the Turkish Co-operation and Co-ordination Agency (TİKA), aims to create employment opportunities, support emerging farmers and strengthen the province’s agricultural economy through coffee production.
The department has identified five hectares of land at the Kgora Farmer Training Centre in Mahikeng for the planting of donated coffee seedlings.
North West Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Madoda Sambatha says the province’s fertile soil makes it suitable for the project.
Sambatha says, “Mahikeng soil is recorded as one of the best rich soil you will have in the world. I normally tell people that the trophy of richness of this soil, it’s not on being rich. The trophy is on what you are producing.”
He adds that the project also aims to reduce South Africa’s reliance on imported coffee. “We are not producing in South Africa, but we are consuming, meaning everyone else in the continents are producing as a target market to the consumers, which is us. We are trying to close that gap.”
The farming community has welcomed the initiative, saying it will create new opportunities for farmers in the province.
Secretary of the North West Agricultural Farmers Association of South Africa, Mosidi Morule, says, “In our province, we never had coffee as a commodity. So it’s one of the best things that came for us, for farmers, and for the emerging, and especially women and young children, and women and youth. The thing is, because the project is done in the Kgora facility, which is one of the institutions for farmers. So it’s going to enhance and make it popular. We are going to popularize coffee in our province and produce and start to have the value chain of coffee.”
Young people selected to participate in the project’s learnership programme say they are optimistic about the opportunities it will create.
One participant says, “I hope this project will help with unemployment because are setting at home with our qualifications.”
Another says, “I’m happy to learn about coffee and the opportunities that exist for the youth and graduates in agriculture.”
A third participant says, “I want to have my own coffee shop and this will help me have background knowledge about where coffee comes from.”
The department says the pilot project is intended to establish a local coffee industry while creating employment and expanding agricultural opportunities in the province.
MEDIA BRIEFING – Landmark Coffee Production Project Launch
MEC Madoda Sambatha invited members of the media to Kgora Farmer Training Centre in Mahikeng for a briefing ahead of the official launch of the Landmark Coffee Production Project. @DOAgov_ZA @DLRRD_za @Tika_Turkiye pic.twitter.com/PWxdkPujCJ
— NW Agriculture and Rural Development (@nwpg_dard) July 13, 2026
Story by: Tsholofelo Sekwena
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