A new kind of "flower" is blooming from the stony earth of the Namaqualand desert.

Paprika -- called red gold by some -- is being hailed as the sorely-needed economic alternative to the region's once thriving mining industry.

"We sing hallelujahs, there is hope! After 40 years in the desert we are on our way to the promised land," enthused Northern Cape premier Manne Dipico at the opening of Namaqualand's new R120-million rand paprika project, run jointly by government and private investors.

It was a case of putting your money where your mouth is when Dipico's provincial government contributed R17-million to the establishment of a state-of-the-art paprika factory near Springbok.

The first crop of the region's 55 newly-settled paprika farmers is soon to be processed there into oleoresin -- an extracted paprika oil -- and paprika powder for the Dutch market.

The oil extracted from dried pods of the paprika plant, which is part of the pepper family, is the only natural red food colourant.

Paprika powder is grounded from the dried pods. The pods grow to around 15cm in length.

It has a subtle sweet flavour. Those involved in the project are convinced of their imminent success on the world spice market and believe the euros will soon start rolling in.

"We are going to grow the best paprika in the world here.

Paprika needs sun and no rain to get a good colour. And that colour is money," explains Gili Arbel, an Israeli irrigation specialist, manager of the paprika farming project and a director of the factory.

Arbel runs the Goodhouse farming project (he calls it the Northern Cape's first kibbutz) on the banks of the Orange River near Springbok, right next to the border between South Africa and Namibia.

Fifty-five small farmers were settled on 550 hectares there with land reform grants, each receiving a plot of 10 hectares.

High-technology drip-irrigation was installed on the plots with an R18-million grant from the national Department of Agriculture.

By the end of April 400 of those hectares should be planted with paprika. Some are already ready for harvesting.

The factory's Dutch buyer, John Garcia, agrees that the Namaqualanders will compete with the best on the world market.

Not only is the parched and sunny climate and drip irrigation system perfect for the production of premium quality paprika; the factory is the most modern of its kind outside Europe. It includes a sterilisation plant that ensures higher quality than most competitors can provide, Garcia said.

According to Garcia, South Africa is now in terms of quality Number Two on the European paprika market, second only to Hungary.

Project managers estimate that the factory and farm will have created 1500 new jobs by October for the impoverished surrounding communities. Already labour had to be imported to the Goodhouse farm, where a compound is now being built for these workers, said Northern Cape MEC for economic affairs and tourism Thabo Makweya.

Makweya calls Goodhouse the province's GDP (Green Desert Project).

New job opportunities are desperately needed in Namaqualand after the recent closure of two large fishing companies. The Okiep copper mine also closed down two years ago, retrenching all of its local workers, Makweya said.

Dipico, a former mineworker himself, said mining, always the focus of economic development strategies for Namaqualand, created very few jobs for locals, despite massive investments. The regional economy had been deteriorating for the past 10 years.

An alternative method of job creation had to be found. It was only when a private investor proposed the paprika project that they realised the agricultural potential of the barren desert.

The paprika project developers and managers are Haymake Investments and Gili Greenworld, who together formed Northern Cape Agricultural Linkages (Nocal) and invested R38-million in the factory. The Northern Cape government's investment of R17-million was translated into a 25 percent shareholding in the factory by the 55 Goodhouse farmers.

Nocal also owns a stake of 26 percent in the Goodhouse farm.

Andre Hendricks, a Nocal director, said the factory's annual turnover should be in the region of R120 million two years from now.

Arbel estimates that the 55 Goodhouse farmers will make an annual profit of around R30000 each.

Now, with the factory up and running and the first crop ready to be harvested, it is only a question of waiting to see whether the red spice will become give a new flavour to the lives of Namaqualand's destitute -Sapa.