In AUGUST, Nomathamsanqa “Thami” Madliwa, was crowned the Department of Agriculture’s National Female Farmer of the Year for informal markets – but her tomato operation has since ground to a complete halt, illustrating the very real challenges facing emerging farmers today. Thami, of the 378ha Weltevrede Farm, not far from the town of Komga in the Eastern Cape, eventually took home more than R150 000 in prize money from three awards. In August she was named regional Amatole Female Farmer of the Year, before going on to the Eastern Cape provincial title and eventually the national crown. I met Thami at a gala celebration organised and funded by the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture (ECDA) to honour the successes of the province’s female farmers, most of whom belong to popular government-funded organisation Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (WARD). Speech after speech emphasised the importance of emerging farmers becoming successful farmers like Thami.
It was rumoured Weltevrede would be seriously expanded in the near future, with the proposed construction of seven- and 14-bay multispan greenhouses. A new dam is already under construction. I was eager to see for myself Weltevrede’s transformation into a benchmark for emerging farmers. A couple of weeks later I met the friendly Thami at her front gate. While driving along her well-maintained but long and rough access road, she tells me how she has transformed her life, moving from the megatownship of Mdantsane to beautiful Weltevrede. From township to nearly R1 million Thami’s association with farming began in 1994, when she and her parents moved to a small plot near the East London airport and her late father began producing vegetables on a small scale.
Thami worked at the Border Training Centre, but, suddenly retrenched, she was forced into agriculture and by 1998 helped her dad full-time on the plot. Life was tough so close to the township. Theft was rampant and the family dreamed of owning their own farm. When Weltevrede came into the market a few years ago Thami jumped at the opportunity, purchasing it through the Department of Land Affairs’s Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme that funded herself, her son Sivuyile, her daughter Asanda and her mother Nokhaya to the tune of R280 000. Using their plot as security, the family borrowed another R300 000 from Land Bank, and arrived at Weltevrede in December 2004. Thami, who is involved in mentoring a number of regional food security programs, quickly realised she had to decide how to generate money from the farm. “I needed something to pay off my bond and decided on tomatoes,” she recalls. Using a R400 000 grant from the Department of Agriculture’s Comprehensive Agricultural Support Plan (CASP), Thami planned to construct 12 tunnels, each 30m x 10m. But, only three were erected because of fears the small nearby dam wouldn’t provide a constant water supply. Tomato seedlings were planted last November. A nearby commercial farmer, who was also contracted to erect the tunnels, provided training.
Thami’s home is the picture of rural tranquility. As we arrived one could understand that leaving Mdantsane for Weltevrede was an exceptional achievement – a string of awards was simply a bonus. Chickens scratched food from the lawn. A pig peered over a cement wall and three out of 10 cattle grazed in a nearby camp, accompanied somewhere in the bush by 12 sheep. To the right of the house a vegetable garden was fenced in, keeping tempted poultry and livestock at bay. Derelict tunnels All these small subsistence contributions make a vital contribution to the household, explains Thami, but the core of her agricultural venture revolves around the three tunnels in the distance. As we near the first tunnel below Thami’s home, though, I notice there are no plants at all inside – only black irrigation pipes still suspended from the roof.
To my horror the next two tunnels are in a similar state. In fact, I don’t find a single tomato on which to fix my camera lens, just heaped-up black bags with medium and dried stems – the only evidence tomatoes ever existed here. Clearly something had gone horribly wrong. As the tunnels were the main reason for Thami’s string of awards I was admittedly stunned and disappointed. Battling on Before running into serious problems including mildew, white fly and irrigation issues, including blocked pipes, Thami says she had some good harvests. These seem to have justified entering competitions. Currently, it was clear nothing was being produced, illustrating her enterprise’s unsustainability. According to Thami’s son Sivuyile, who’s also the production manager, they’d decided to stop production as far back as June because of a possible lack of water.
They’ll only begin again after the construction of a new R192 000 dam in the valley below, contracted to a Somerset East business by the ECDA. Oddly, future plans like the new dam involve serious expansion, despite the fact that the three existing tunnels haven’t been sustainably used. ‘’We need volume production on the farm to be able to supply volumes,’’ explains Sivuyile. Money seems to be no problem at all. Sivuyile says the ECDA have just approved a loan of some R500 000 for the construction of the seven-bay multispan greenhouse mentioned at the award ceremony, which will be irrigated from the new dam, and there’s talk of a funded packhouse too. Sivuyile is also assembling a business plan to draw funding for yet another greenhouse, the 14-bay multispan. I’m stunned again. Why not start by producing tomatoes in the existing tunnels and learn to crawl before walking? I mention to Sivuyile that the tomato initiative that ensured a national title is completely out of production and hint that surely this scenario should be changed before major investment. Thankfully, he says that the obstruction is due to a production problem. “Right now I’m not happy,” he says. “I would rather have production than the award. I will be interested in awards later.” |fw
