CRWG, a company which is 66% owned by 183 female farm workers, are after five years of work seeing the fruit of a long-term enterprise development investment by Rhodes Food Group and the Department of Agriculture that has allowed them to majority own and operate their own fruit farm.
"I am proud to be part of the trust and to have a long term income for my family. Through this project, I will be the first person in my family who can send my children to college," Martha Fielies, a supervisor of about 30 workers on Klipdrift, and one of the shareholders said.
Rhodes Food Group identified CRWG as an enterprise development initiative and supported the company by providing an interest free loan of R1.45m, which was used to establish 11ha of apricot and 9.5ha of peach orchards. The apricots are sold back to Rhodes Food Group and used in their range of Rhodes Apricot products. The company anticipates a 400 ton crop this season.
The women farmworkers, who are beneficiaries of the trusts, receive on-going technical and financial management training and are supported by the Robertson Co-operative Winery in running and managing the farm, as a result of the joint partnership.
The worker-shareholders in CRWG are represented by the Le Chasseur Workers' Trust (21%), the Robertson East Workers Trust (26%), and the Robertson West Workers Trust (19%) along with Robertson Co-operative Winery Ltd (34%).The shareholders agreement makes provision for the three trusts to eventually own 100% of the shares within the company.
