Juicy citrus brings health and income to North West schools through Sun City project
Growing citrus tree programme year on year
CAPTION: Learners from Mperebere Primary School planting their new citrus trees during Arbor Month
Sun City continues to create jobs for youth in the North West Province through the cultivation of juicy local citrus, using National Arbor Month as a springboard to further ignite their learnership and schools programme.
To expand upon the project which was started last year by the Resort’s Social-Economic Development Programme, Sun City purchased a further 550 citrus trees, of which 250 were planted to establish a mini-orchard to be used for training purposes for unemployed youth.
Sun City donated the remaining 300 citrus trees along with irrigation systems and gardening tools to six schools within the Moses Kotane Local Municipality and Rustenburg Municipality – Mperebere Primary School and Mphuphuthe Primary School in Ledig, Bothibelo Primary School in Phatsima, Mafenya Primary School in Chaneng, Tshwara -o-dire Primary School in Mogwase and Reoleboge Special School in Moruleng.
CAPTION: A growing citrus orchard in the making at Topturf Site, Sun City expands on its donation year on year
The project is an extension of last year’s initial project of 100 citrus trees planted at Sedibelo Secondary and Temogo Special School. Six unemployed youths from the Moses Kotane Municipal region last year completed a Citrus Business Management learnership through the Citrus Academy, with Sun City sponsoring transport and lunch packs. They also learned tree pruning techniques from Sun City’s landscaping company.
“By adding more trees to the Resort, we are expanding our citrus project and enabling these graduates to continue carrying out practical work and maintain trees that will be planted in nearby schools,” said Tebogo Mokgejane, Sun City’s SED and Stakeholder Engagement Manager.
Basetsana Motha, Sun City Environmental Officer, said activities in celebration of National Arbor week had included an environmental awareness educational session as well as various tree planting. “This promoted the importance of trees, which help to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality,” she said.
“The aim of the programme is to promote food security and to instill the interest of food production in youth, as well as help school feeding programmes to benefit from having a free source of healthy fresh produce,” Mokgejane said. “Citrus trees can be a source of income for schools, which can sell the fruits to generate revenue for supplies, funding extracurricular activities, or improving school infrastructure. We are pleased to have such an exciting project with which to engage the local community which is so vital to Sun City.”