Our Founding Story
What is ECARP?
The East Cape Agricultural Research Project (ECARP) was established in 1993 as a non-profit organisation to support and empower rural communities. Our primary partners in development are farm workers, farm dwellers and small-scale farmers.
Who do we work with?
ECARP currently works with farm workers, farm dwellers and small-scale farmers across five municipal areas (Makana, Sunday’s River Valley, Ndlambe, Nxuba and Nkonkobe) of the Cacadu and Amathole District Municipalities of the Eastern Cape.



More about us
ECARP conceptualises its work within a broader understanding of the structure of the agrarian political economy, power relations in the countryside, the control and ownership of resources, the relations of production and the relations of expanded social reproduction.
Class, gender and race are crucial determinants in the allocation and distribution of resources, income, and access to services.
The South African agrarian political economy is structured and shaped by class, gender and race.
Consequently, unequal power relations and profound inequalities emerge between rich and poor, between men and women and between racial groups.
Rural poverty and vulnerability are the outcomes of the complex interaction of socio-economic and political forces that can be transformed.
Get In Touch
(046) 622-5429
(046) 622-2617
admin@ecarp.org.za
4 Trollope Street, Grahamstown
Let's Work Together
If you have an interest in our programmes,
we'd love to hear from you.