PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Jaycee Kruger in South Africa

Well known retailer, Woolworths expects that a pilot project in Eastern Cape and Limpopo will meet some 1.4% of this year's organic cotton needs. The project, a collaboration between Woolworths, the ComMark Trust, Cotton SA and the international Organic Exchange organization, is running on a number of farms in Eastern Cape and Limpopo, directed by the Agricultural Research Council's Institute for Industrial Crops.

The ComMark Trust is a regional development initiative aimed at reducing poverty, and committed about $140k to aid farmers with start-up costs, and the Organic Exchange will provide technical support for farmers, and Woolworths agreed to buy fiber from participating farmers once the cotton had been harvested.

The first cotton is expected to be harvested at the end of May, and Woolworths expects the 1.4 percent to grow "quite significantly " as the pilot project gained ground, as the company continues to work closely with the Organic Exchange and domestic organizations -- including Cotton SA and the Agricultural Research Council.

Unfortunately the company could not yet quantify how many jobs for the rural poor would be created by the project.

Jaycee Kruger International Correspondent South Africa Jaycee Krüger, PMP, PrTechEng, is an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today in South Africa. He is also the Managing Director of the CMSS, trading as Construction Management Support Services. He has over 29 years of experience in project environments with increasing responsibility, on power, industrial and mining projects, including shutdowns and projects in remote locations. A Civil Engineer by training, Jaycee is active in the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE), Project Management Institute (PMI), Project Management South Africa (PMSA), and the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE). Jaycee is based in Heidelberg, Gauteng, Johannesburg region, and can be reached at jckruger@greybeards.co.za. For additional information about Jaycee Krüger, visit http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm#Kruger.