Heritage Cases

Olyf Trust is proposing to commence with the establishment of organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures on the Remaining Extent of the Farm Donegal no 217 near the town of Hopetown in the Northern Cape Province (15 ha). The purpose of the cultivation will either be for commercial organic pumpkin planting for export purposes or for planting of grazing pastures. The completion of the farm portion procurement process is however dependent on a number of factors. The major conditional factors are the suitability of the area for organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures (soil, water, transformation of natural resources, heritage significance) as well as the successful acquisition of an environmental authorisation (EA) from the competent authority. The Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation has in this case been identified as the competent authority. In accordance with the National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998); Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations of 2017, a Basic Assessment Impact Assessment (BA) processes is required for the proposed project in order to obtain the necessary environmental authorisation from the competent authority. Eco-Con Environmental was appointed by Koos de Wet on behalf of Olyf Trust to act as the independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to facilitate the entire environmental authorisation application process and complete the Basic Assessment processes for the construction and operational phases of the proposed project. The project will entail two major aspects namely: • The construction of a pipeline for irrigation from existing boreholes. • Cultivation of 15 ha organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures and some two track access roads. Cultivation of 15 ha organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures 15 ha organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures will be established on the proposed project footprint. The cultivation and planting process will work as follows: • The area will be cleared with the use of a Bulldozer and deep-ripped with the dozer tines to breakup and aerate the soils. • Surface rocks will be manually removed from the area. • Soil preparation will then be conducted by cultivation with the use of a chisel plough. • Amelioration recommendations will be obtained from a soil scientist through chemical and organic soil analyses in order to ensure the appropriate nutrients/minerals, as required for the area to be cultivated, are incorporated into the growth medium (soil) prior to planting. • Irrigation water will be abstracted from existing boreholes. A water use License is also being undertaken for the registration of these boreholes with the Department of Water and Sanitation in the Northern Cape. • Planting of organic pumpkins or grazing pastures will be conducted manually through manual labour. In order to achieve the above, two Layout Alternatives are proposed: Layout Alternative 1 (Preferred Alternative) The preferred layout alternative includes the development of 15ha of organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures which will constitute a 15ha cultivated land. The preferred layout alternative is located 150m east of the existing residential dwelling and existing gravel access road. This 15 ha will not traverse any existing wetland and water courses. Layout Alternative 2 Layout alternative 2 includes the development of 5ha of organic pumpkin farming or grazing pastures which will constitute a 5ha cultivated land. Studies was conducted that indicated that the PH values and drainage was not suitable for the preferred development area and thus the area was reduced to 5 ha. Layout alternative 2 is located 150m east of the existing residential dwelling and existing gravel access road. This 5 ha will not traverse any existing wetland and water courses. Already established two track farm roads are already in place and will link up most of the area. In some cases, where tracks do not exist, some new two track farm road might be established. Construction of a pipeline and water extraction point A new water pipeline will be constructed and put in place to extract water from the already existing 4 X boreholes. This will be used for the irrigation of the 15ha organic pumpkin area as described in this report. A water use license application will be submitted to the relevant authority once both the environmental authorisation and the ploughing certificate have been obtained. Extraction Pump: • The following extraction pumps will be erected at each of the boreholes: 1 x 5.5kW, pump and 3 x 2.2kW pumps which will pump into an existing 532 000 litre concrete dam. Water will be pumped by a centrifugal pump from the dam to the cultivated area. • The power for the extraction pumps will be obtained from existing 100 KVA point. • The extraction pumps will run for approximately 12 hours per day, pumping water to the amount of 95 m3 per hour (Monday to Saturday for a 3-month period. Pipelines: • A new 250 mm pipeline of approximately 0.8 km in length will be constructed to transport water from the existing concrete dam to the developed area. A narrow section of approximately 900mm will be cleared in order to accommodate the piping infrastructure. A trench of approximately 900 mm wide will be excavated in order to accommodate the subsurface burial of the pipeline. On site Settling Dams: As part of the above-mentioned pipeline and extraction pumps, the following settling dam already exists on site: • The existing boreholes will feed into an existing concrete dam (532m2 / 12270m3). The co-ordinates of the dam: 29°28'47.87"S; 24°05'56.22"E. The dam level will be kept between 50% and 90% by a level sensor that automatically switches the borehole pumps on/off as required. • The dam will also be fitted with a 35 kW pump that will feed into the pipeline towards the cultivated area.