OUR DIGITAL AND CONNECTED MINE
BELFAST COAL CREATES
PHUMULANI AGRI-VILLAGE
ORGANIC FOOD GARDEN
Belfast Coal recently created the Phumulani Agri-Village Organic Food Garden – a project that aims to empower the community with skills, social capital and more avenues for income generation.
The digital and connected mine initiated the Agri-Garden Project at its resettled community, Phumulani Agri-Village, as part of its greater Sustainability Plan for the community. The project will invest R1 601 300 into creating sustainable, small-scale agriculture related jobs through the training and capacity building of its community members.
Key skills will include performing landscaping and vegetable production to help address food security issues within the broader Emakhazeni Local Municipality, while generating muchneeded income for local households. In this way, the project aligns with Exxaro’s Sustainable Growth and Impact Strategy, which seeks to create alternative local economies beyond the life of mine as part of the Impact pillar of the strategy.
The project will take place over three phases. Phase 1 began in January 2022 with the recruiting and selection of 10 unemployed community members (aged between 20 and 70 years), who will benefit from the knowledge and skills needed to build organic food gardens. Phase 2 will drive training and establish a suitable infrastructure and Phase 3 will focus on the implementation and business development aspect of the project.
The community hall was selected as the venue for the project as it is used regularly by community members for various events and will allow more community members to familiarise themselves with the project. To date, two greenhouse tunnels have been constructed and a drip irrigation system introduced to conserve water.
The long-term sustainability of the project will focus on bringing in revenue through different markets, such as a school feeding scheme, guest houses and retail stores which will help the Village maintain its livelihood.
EXXARO TURNS WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY INTO A PLAN OF ACTION
Exxaro participated in
World Environment Day
To mark World Environment Day on 5 June, Exxaro is committing to the following three pillars of environmental action, through the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
Improving its waste management practices
Cutting emissions
Restoring ecosystems on land
We will achieve this by:
- Increasing recycling targets to 85%
- Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions
- Transferring 90% of post-mining land to farmers
There is Only One Earth and it’s ours to preserve and conserve.
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