River Valley, New Hanover

Project Name: Rivervalley Farm CC
Project Location: New Hanover – Umshwathi Local Municipality

Project Background

Rivervalley Farm CC was initiated in 2003 by a couple on a privately owned farm with an extent of 12 hectares. Currently 7ha of the farm is dedicated to all year-round shade net vegetable production with additional capacity on 2 standard (30x10m) tunnels as well recently installed greenhouse multi-span which covers up to 2 hectares. The project owners are by far self-starters, having put a down payment for the property through proceeds from potatoes they had grown and sold from rented land, expanding their primary production capacity and starting a packhouse to constantly having to pick themselves up from the never-ending adverse weather effects on vegetable farming in the New Hanover area. Rivervalley Farm has been assisted for infrastructure development by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the ADA over the years. The DARD provided the farm with funding to enable shade net installation on 5 hectares, while the ADA has provided funding through an approved application for COVID relief funds from the provincial treasury in 2020/21 financial year. Rivervalley Farm currently supplies vegetables (fresh and value added) and fresh herbs to a range of clients within Pietermaritzburg and Durban including the EU export market for cherry peppers (pasteurised).