Maart 2014
94
Hard work and perseverance drives him
to achieve success
– Maurice Boki
A
s we all know, it is not in everyone’s blood to be a farmer,
but with perseverance and a will to succeed, anything is
possible. Mr Maurice Boki (Grain SA/Absa Developing
Grain Producer of the Year) realised from a very early age
that he is (as he calls it) “a man of the earth” and that his love for the
land and animals is very strong.
Maurice has listened to his intuition, regardless of the challenges,
and followed his dreams. “People don’t always fully understand the
constraints and obstacles that exist to start farming with nothing.
Man alone, with no land, no knowledge or experience and no support
– with just passion in your pocket. That is where Maurice started.
He was born in 1941 in Matatiele. He went to school at the
St. Columbus Primary School and Mariazel High School in Matatiele.
He left school in standard eight and went to St. Anthony’s mission
where he received his matric certificate.
He then moved to Johannesburg and worked at the Germiston
municipality for three years. After he left the municipality he joined
the Twins Pharmaceutical Company (Adcock Ingram) where he
worked for twelve years. He then left the pharmaceutical company
in 1977 and bought a general dealership in Matatiele which is still in
operation today. He speculated a bit with cattle after which, with the
assistance of Land Bank he purchased a farm in the Cedarville area
in the Eastern Cape.
Maurice started to attend courses and gathered any farming
information he could get his hands on and made it his own. He
bought some cattle and also planted a few hectares of maize which
initially yielded only about 2,5 tons/ha.
As Mr Neels Uys, a well-known farmer from the Western Cape
says: “start small and end big”. Maurice did start small and 18 years
later his farming business is still growing. Today he is farming on
1 178 ha, has a flock of 200 Bonsmara-cross-Brahman breeding cows,
40 heifers and 80 Dohne Merinos on 818 ha veld. He also planted
135 ha dryland maize and achieved a yield of 6 tons/ha.
Maurice is a very modest person, but when you ask him what it is
that motivated and inspired him over the years to succeed, he refers
to two aspects: First, the support of his wife and four children. His
eldest son, Stembile, works in the corporate world in Johannesburg,
his eldest daughter, Lindelwa, is a doctor in East London, his second
eldest daughter, Zintle, works in marketing in Johannesburg and his
youngest is at home.
ON FARM LEVEL
Developing farmer / Award / Challenges / Motivation
Management practices
LIANA STROEBEL,
Grain Farmer Development Programme, Grain SA
Grain SA/Absa Developing Grain Producer of the Year
Maurice Boki
