September 2014
18
The finalists for theGrainSA/AbsaNewEra
Commercial Farmer of theYear 2014, are…
P
ieter Chabalala grew up on a farm in Rosendal and went
to school in Ficksburg. He is married to Lucy and has five
children.
After school in1977, hestartedworking forSasol asacraneoperator.
In1980hewas appointed as a truckdriver for Shell, whichhedid for
ten years before he was promoted to a supervisor/load controller.
One of his tasks was to deliver diesel to different farmers in the
Eastern FreeState.
Pieter’s journey in agriculture began in 2002 when he rented his
first farm, Kroonberg, which he bought two years later. He always
had a keen interest in agriculture and used to like talking to the
farmers towhohedelivereddiesel, about their challenges.
Kroonberg is situated in the Eastern Free State, near Puthaditjhaba.
He producesmaize, soybeans and dry beans on a total of 305 ha of
arable land. He has been part of the Grain SA Farmer Development
Programme for the past eight years and progressed from a
smallholder farmer a few years back.
Pieter maintains good relationships with other role-players in
agriculture, is eager to learn andwilling to try new ideas. He is very
precise in hiswork and understands all the requirements of being a
full-time farmer.
GRAIN SA
LANDI KRUGER,
Grain Farmer Development Programme, Grain SA
Pieter Chabalala
Region:
FreeState
Nearest town:
Puthaditjhaba
Provincial co-ordinator:
JurieMentz
1: Pieter Chabalala.
2: PieterwithGrainSA’s provincial co-ordinator, JurieMentz.
3: The entire infrastructure on Pieter Chabalala’s farmwas built by him-
self.
4: A solar geyser to ensurehotwater.
5: Heplanted a sorghum trial as amember of his studygroup.
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