Page 17 - DUT Excellence

DUT’S NEWLY ESTABLISHED AGRI-HUB SUPPLIES FRESH CUCUMBERS TO LOCAL RETAILER
Pictured: DUT Midlands Entrepreneurship Centre and Student Desk Manager Ms Nontokozo Ngcobo and DUT’s DVC: RIE Prof Sibusiso Moyo at the Agri-Hub, which produces fresh cucumbers. Picture by: Nkululeko Mbatha
The newly established Agri-Hub by DUT’s Midlands Entrepreneurship Centre and Student Desk (Centre) recently produced its rst set of fresh cucumbers – 110 units were harvested and supplied to a local food retailer.
This is a great achievement for the hub, situated at DUT’s Indumiso Campus in Pietermaritzburg, since it started to take shape when the Centre installed three hydroponic tunnels and its greenhouses last year in October. DUT, in partnership with the Agribusiness Development Agency (ADA) and the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), of cially
launched this Agri-Hub virtually on 24 February 2020. EDTEA has already committed to donating R2 million towards the Agri-Hub in order to assist students to exit into their businesses upon the completion of training and exposure.
Providing background information on the Agri-Hub, DUT Midlands Entrepreneurship Centre and Student Desk Manager Ms Nontokozo Ngcobo said: “The Agri-Hub is phased into two projects: the rst phase, which was fully funded by DUT, is a smaller infrastructure that will culminate into a bigger and more commercially-structured project.The infrastructure for Phase One has now been completed and is located at the Indumiso Campus on a 700m2 land.The hub has three 5m x 10m greenhouse tunnels that are currently being used to grow over 500 trees of cucumbers using the hydroponic system. Meanwhile, the second phase will be made up of both the internal and external funding.”
She said that the Agri-Hub seeks to build resilient and pro table agribusinesses within the Midlands area and the Province at large. Furthermore, Ngcobo said that the Agri-Hub aims to counteract issues of food security within the community of Imbali and outskirts. This programme is one of the few among other programmes that the Centre has initiated, including the One Home One Garden project where the Centre provided over 150 seedlings to greater Edendale community members in June 2020.
DUT’s DeputyVice-Chancellor:Research,Innovation and Engagement Professor Sibusiso Moyo said that one of the things that DUT is trying to address by establishing this Agri-Hub is the employability issue and
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