Communal Wool Farmers Project

‘Wool is low-risk farming, and sheep are already in the communities. Wool production brings outside money into the communities. That’s not money already in the community being recycled. It’s new money! And foreign capital because the wool is exported. The figures speak for themselves.’

In the past, traditional wool production in the Eastern Cape was characterised by low production yields, poor quality and low prices. Through the ComMark-funded initiative, farmers have been organised into woolgrower associations or shed communities, training has resulted in higher yields and better quality clips, management and production skills have been developed and communities have been linked with commercial wool markets.