Empowerment

Since 2003, this Eastern Cape small-scale ostrich farming project has been providing opportunities for farmers to improve their livelihoods. Having overcome stringent biosecurity requirements, the project is set to expand further. Grant Hollins met with Klein Karoo Group Transformation Trust board member, Johannes Jacobs, to learn more.

When Simon Txoanyana – a retired SANDF member – decided to farm in 1999, he realised he couldn’t afford a commercial farm. Mike Burgess spoke to him about how he instead became a successful communal sheep farmer near Goshen in the former Ciskei, Eastern Cape.

Frans Malela from Limpopo gave up his city job to farm full time. With no government help, he became an award-winning farmer, growing maize then cotton on leased land. Today, he mentors others.

Entrepreneur Gugu Mlipha went from being a hawker to an award-winning agro-processing farmer with a turnover of R2,4 million/year. Despite her success, she remains firmly hands-on, even driving her company’s delivery truck.

A poor, deeply rural Eastern Cape community is on the brink of enjoying a revival, thanks to a project to establish a commercial farming operation amongst communal farmers. The venture is financed by investment company Wiphold.

Buyambo Mantashe is hip, urban and a 24-year-old Joburger-turned-farmer. Orrock Robertsen caught up with him on his family farm in the Eastern Cape to get his views on land reform and the opportunities for young black farmers.

Prof Darrell Abernethy, appointed last year as Onderstepoort’s new dean, is poised to steer his alma mater towards addressing Africa’s desperate need for more vets in rural areas and improved disease control in herds and flocks. The dean revealed his vision to Nan Smith.

Ivy Mzamo has come a long way on the Luthando citrus farm near Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape. Beginning as a packer, she progressed to general manager and today is a co-owner. Her accomplishments were recently recognised when she won the national 2014 Female Entrepreneur of the Year award. Grant Hollins went to Kirkwood to find out more.

Since forming a co-op three years ago, smallholder vegetable farmers Johannes Arendse, Joseph Bantom and Polly Theunissen have expanded their business and gained access to assistance that will help them grow even further. Denene Erasmus reports.

Lawrence Maduna (65), the Agricultural Research Council’s Eastern Cape Emerging Beef Farmer for 2014, farms a Bonsmara-dominated herd of 160 breeding females in the Lady Grey district of the Eastern Cape. Mike Burgess visited him to learn about his winning approach to beef production.

Input costs are biting hard, but Matla-Gamede Farming’s owners are determined to turn their operation into a fully-fledged commercial business.

It is an unfortunate reality that unemployment and poverty are rife in South Africa’s traditional authority areas. A pilot research project to develop commercial peach production and processing in parts of KwaZulu-Natal hopes to help alleviate this situation.