Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry

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Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry
motto "NON SIBI SED POPULO" (Not for oneself, but for the people)
founding September 1930
Sponsorship state
place King William's Town , South Africa
Acting Principal (Deputy Principal) Mulugheta Araia
Website www.fortcox.ac.za

The Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry ( German : Fort Cox College for Agriculture and Forestry), or Fort Cox College (FCC) for short, is a higher educational institution ( Technical College ) with a scientific and technical focus in South Africa . Its official seat is in King William's Town . The campus , which is spatially distant, was built near the former military facility Fort Cox , after which the college was named , with only a few structural remains . It is located in the area of Middledrift .

location

The campus is located in the undulating foothills of the Amathole Mountains on a U-shaped bend of the Keiskamma River near the Burnshill settlement .

history

In 1926, at the instigation of Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu and M. Peteni , the Magistrate of Keiskammahoek considered the establishment of an agricultural training center for the black population. The acquisition of land with an area of ​​650 hectares is said to have been made in 1927 by a private person. Shortly afterwards, the contract to build suitable buildings went to what was then the South African Native College near Alice . Another 704 hectares were added in 1934 through the purchase of Xhosa boss Sandile.

The college was opened in September 1930 (according to other information in 1931) as Fort Cox Agricultural School by the then Native Affairs Department in the presence of the minister. It was the largest non-European educational institution in the country at the time within the sector and attracted students from across the South African Union . As a result, it took on the role of a pilot project, although a few years earlier smaller schools with similar standards had been founded in three places in the Transkei . The management of the neighboring South African Native College , especially its third principal (1906–1930) James Henderson, had hoped to be able to open this branch of education under their leadership. The best-known early attempt to establish a similar training facility dates back to 1928 in the village of Pevensey , which was associated with the opening of the Reichenau Agricultural School (also Pevensey Agricultural School ) in the province of Natal . This facility was closed again in 1942.

In 1941, after completing two-year courses, 400 people left Fort Cox College . The early graduates were employed as agricultural demonstrators whose task was to motivate the predominantly Xhosa-indigenous population to build small farms, each no larger than 2 acres (8094 m 2 ). In addition, a combined advanced course with the South African Native College of Fort Hare , called Fort Cox - Fort Hare Advanced Diploma , was developed in parallel . This three-year course was aimed at leading Agriculture Demonstrators (German about: Landwirtschaftsdemonstratoren). The basic course for the demonstrators with a final certificate, on the other hand, only lasted two years. There were also one-year advanced courses in veterinary matters for inspection assistants and in agricultural sciences for trained teachers. In addition, a two-year technology course was offered to train assistants in engineering. Holders of agricultural degrees could apply for an advanced course in forestry at Zwartkop Forestry Station ( Natal ). The agricultural demonstrators were trained to promote a changed and environmentally friendly agricultural economy among the rural population and to disseminate basic knowledge in this regard through forms of adult education.

The decision to locate the college not far from the forest development area between Middledrift and Keiskammahoek was a response to the disastrous consequences of widespread soil erosion after years of overexploitation in the forest and on the agricultural areas of the region south of the Amathole Mountains . After the Transkei itself, the most important Native Reserves (German: native reservations) were located here in the Ciskei , whose tribalistic development was deepened by the segregation policy of the Hertzog government .

In January 1970 students and staff from the Zwartkop School were transferred to Fort Cox College , expanding the curriculum to include forestry. It was an institution not far from Pietermaritzburg that had distinguished itself in this area for many years and from which primarily forest workers had emerged.

In 1970, the University College of Fort Hare, just a few miles away, created a faculty of agricultural sciences .

Between 1974 and 1976, a new campus was built on the land acquired in 1934. The opening ceremony of this expansion complex took place on February 9, 1977 by the then Chief Minister of the Ciskei, Lennox Leslie W. Sebe . Further extensions, the sports stadium and an assembly hall, followed in 1983.

On June 11, 1991, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development of the Ciskei Government and Fort Hare University signed a memorandum to affiliate Fort Cox College with the university.

In 2002, the college received full accreditation for its academic programs from the South African Council for Higher Education (CHE) .

Educational offer

Academic area

At Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry two academic areas, the faculty farming and value as well as the Faculty of Forestry exist. There are in these two areas accounts ( Diplomas offered) on a total of 300 student places. Students must pay annual tuition fees.

The degrees offered are:

  • Three-year diploma in agriculture: Dip Agric
  • Three-year diploma in forestry: Dip Forestry

The profile of the two departments is:

  • Agriculture . There are three specializations here: crop production, animal production and agricultural economics
  • Social Forestry (literally: social forestry, analogously roughly: socially sustainable forestry). The training content includes topics such as silviculture , forestry measurement and inventory.

A specialist library with a reading room and modern copy and media technology is available for employees and registered students. The library holdings are managed as reference holdings .

Agricultural land ( college farm )

The campus includes 1500 hectares of arable land, the college farm . Of this, a total of 60 hectares are earmarked for cultivation and the rest consists of pastures . Vegetables are grown on around 25 hectares of agricultural land, which are used to supply regional markets. Preferred vegetables are cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, potatoes, carrots, lettuce and spinach. There is also a citrus plantation of 2000 trees with oranges and mandarins . Corn and alfalfa are produced on around 20 hectares for their own feed purposes. Ryegrass and oats are grown on an additional 20 hectares.

Two herds of cattle of the Bonsmara and Nguni species with a total of 170 animals as well as sheep (around 109 animals) and goats (around 71 animals) live on the farm . A herd of 62 cows is available for milk production . By keeping poultry it is possible to slaughter several thousand chickens per month and 500 laying hens give around 9000 eggs per month. Pigs are bred on a small scale and their meat is sold on the local market.

Rural Development Center

The Rural Development Center , or RDC for short, is a department of Fort Cox College that offers basic knowledge and additional training in the form of short courses. This also includes course offers beyond the accreditation system.

International cooperation

There has been a cooperation project with Oregon State University since 2003 , which deals with reforestation measures and fruit growing .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry: History of the College . www.fortcox.ac.za (English)
  2. ^ A b Edward Roux: Land and Agriculture in the Native Reserves . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Cape Town, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1949. p. 185
  3. ^ Robert HW Shepherd: Lovedale. South Africa. The Story of a Century 1841-1941 . Lovedale (1940), p. 427
  4. ↑ George Mukuka: The Establishment of the indigenous Catholic clergy in South Africa: 1919–1957 . In: Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Vol. XXXIV (2008), No. 1, pp. 305-334, here PDF document p. 22 on uir.unisa.ac.za (English)
  5. ^ PAW Cook: Non-European Education . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Cape Town, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1949. p. 372
  6. ↑ George Sombe Mukuka: Mokoka, Gobi Clement (Dictionary of African Christian Biography) . at www.dacb.org ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dacb.org
  7. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1950-1951 . Johannesburg 1951, pp. 58-59
  8. ^ Edward Roux: Land and Agriculture in the Native Reserves . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Cape Town, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1949. pp. 178-179
  9. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1970 . Johannesburg 1971, pp. 148-149
  10. ^ Council for Higher Education South Africa. on www.che.ac.za (English)
  11. ^ Department of Agriculture and Value Adding. at www.fortcox.ac.za (English)
  12. ^ Department of Forestry. at www.fortcox.ac.za (English)
  13. ↑ FORT COX COLLEGE: PROSPECTUS 2015. on www.fortcox.ac.za, PDF document p. 48 (English)
  14. ^ Advertisement for Forestry Lecturer. on www.forestry.co.za (English; PDF; 259 kB)
  15. ↑ a b Fort Cox College farm. at www.fortcox.ac.za (English)
  16. ^ Rural Development Center (RDC) . at www.fortcox.ac.za (English)
  17. ^ Strengthening Academic Infrastructure in Forestry in Southern Africa . on www.hedprogram.org (partnership program with the Oregon State University ) (English)

Coordinates: 32 ° 46 ′ 57 ″  S , 27 ° 1 ′ 35 ″  E