Five of the courses will be aimed at basic flock health and four will deal with basic flock nutrition.
As part of the campaign, the NWGA conducted basic flock health training at the Ngcothoyi Wool Growers Association in Alice.
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The focus was on theoretical and practical information about internal and external parasites.
The two-hour course, attended by 10 members, highlighted the symptoms of animal diseases such as pneumonia and blue tongue.
NWGA acting manager for training and development Zithulele Mbatsha said Ngcothoyi was a small but committed grouping of farmers, consisting of 16 members.
The association produced about 12 bales of wool to the value of R47 000 annually without a shearing shed and equipment.
“They would be able to market more wool through the formal auction system and increase the value of their wool clip significantly,” he said.
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Dr Louis du Pisani, NWGA national manager: Product Advice and Development, told Farmers Weekly the Eastern Cape communal farmers had been producing wool for decades.
When the NWGA first got involved, most of the wool they produced was marketed via the informal market at much lower prices than the formal market prices.
The wool was mostly sold to vendors. One of the most important goals was to create access for the communal producers to the formal market auctions so they could realise better prices.
“We facilitated shearing, classing and baling training,” Mbatsha said.
“We also facilitated communal shearing and the marketing of each community’s wool via a broker. Shearing sheds and shearing infrastructure were upgraded as part of the development programme.”
