September 2014
16
GRAIN SA
D
waalkraal Co-operative has seven members, all of whom
were born and grew up on the farm Doornbult, near
Bossies in the Sannieshof district. All themembers of this
co-opworked for AndrewMakkink on this farmwhichwas
later bought for themby theDRDLR in 2011.
Growinguponhis farm, theyworkedwitheverything the farmhad to
offer and theygained experience fromMakkink.
The members of the group have attended various courses which
includemaize and sunflower production courses as well as various
on-farm skills development courses.
The farmhas 150haof good, arable land and368haof grazing. This
year theyplantedmaizeand sunflowers (which theydoeveryyear in
a crop rotation) and they have harvestedgood yields. Themembers
of this group are proud to now be farming profitably as a result of
the knowledge that they gained through the courses they attended,
the on-farm support from their mentor as well as funding via the
recapitalisationprogrammeof theDRDLR (NorthWest Province).
This group is a wonderful example of what can be achieved if
peoplework together andmakeuseof goodadvice– theyarewell on
theirway tobecomingNewEraCommercial Farmers.
L
anga Simon Mbele was born in Bergville in 1952 – and he
grewup there. Hegotmarried in 1979 toThabile and they are
blessedwithsixchildren. Langastartedhisprimaryeducation
level at Langkloof Primary School and went to Okhahlamba
HighSchool wherehe completedgrade 10 in 1973.
His startingpoint in agriculturewas in 1992whenhe andhis brother
(Thulani) were renting two farms in Qwaqwa until 1996. That year
the Department of Land Affairs decided to sell both of the farms
and Langa bought one of them with help from the Land Bank. He
finished paying off his loan in 2010. Langa has been part of the
GrainSADevelopment Programme since 2009.
He is a contactor and a chairperson of Okhahlamba Farmers
Association and they are working with more than 80 small scale
farmerswho are planting yellowmaize under the SAB project. They
alsohave farmerswhomainly concentrateon livestock and they are
getting support fromBKB.
Langa dreams of becoming a commercial farmer who plants 500 ha
and owns 500 beef cattle. At this stage he has 60 ha of his own
arable land and 771 ha of own veld. He also has access to 50 ha of
arable land in thecommunal areanearBergville. Thisyearheplanted
the entire 110 ha to maize. He has also managed to plant 12 ha of
drybeans.
He diversified his farming enterprise into dairy, beef and crops to
ensurea constant cash flowand to spreadhis risks. Hemakesuseof
RoundupReady technology.
Langa is keen to adopt new production methods and his practices
are improving yearly.
Dwaalkraal Co-operative
Region:
NorthWest Province
Nearest town:
Sannieshof
Provincial co-ordinator:
DuToit vander
Westhuizen
LangaSimonMbele
Region:
KwaZulu-Natal
Nearest town:
Bergville
Provincial co-ordinator:
JurieMentz
Meet theGrainSA/SyngentaSmall-
holder Farmer of the Year finalists
1: Jan Pretorius (men-
tor) with the members
of Dwaalkraal Co-op-
erative: D.E. Mpomela,
A.Z. Mpomela, R.D.
Pampiri, T.P. Madika,
B.M. Phamola and D.I.
Mpomela. Absent: T.J.
Moruti.
2: This year they plant-
ed maize and sunflow-
ers (which theydoevery
year in a crop rotation)
and they have harvest-
edgood yields.
1: LangaSimonMbele.
2: Currently he has
60 ha of his own arable
land and 771 ha of his
own veld. He also has
access to 50 ha of ar-
able land in the commu-
nal area near Bergville.
This year heplanted the
entire 110ha tomaize.
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1
2
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