The Boland College group launched the Boland College Greenhouse on Wednesday 15 March in Worcester in collaboration with Stellenbosch University (SU) and the Maastricht School of Management (MSM) in the Netherlands, and was celebrated with an abundance of cucumbers, green beans, onions, pepperdews and cocktail tomatoes.
The aim of this project is to strengthen the skills of technical vocational education and training (TVET) staff and students for optimising water usage and climate-smart agriculture in South Africa, according to a press release from Boland College.
The project forms part of the Orange Knowledge programme managed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is funded by the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC), through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Agriculture is a niche area for Boland College,” Charles Goodwin, the principal of Boland College, pointed out as it is strategically aligned to the growth of the sector as a means to achieve rural development and address the triple threat of unemployment, inequality and poverty, and promote food security.
The greenhouse project forms part of the region’s partnership-support structure. This, in turn, will be supported by a South African-Dutch triple helix platform, which includes stakeholders from the education, private and public sectors. “The Nuffic project is a major success in the simulation of a high-tech greenhouse environment for the students, and it remains a privilege for us to showcase this amazing project with our partners. We are excited to be a centre of excellence in the Boland region for horticulture as well as a game changer in training future farmers,” said Vincent Uys, project manager of Boland College Greenhouse.
