While many young people move to the big city in pursuit of a better paid job and a life of luxury, fancy cars and designer wear, 29-year-old Gift Mafuleka has other ambitions - breathing new life into the agricultural community- an industry which many young people regard as reserved for the older generation, writes Nthambeleni Gabara.
Mafuleka, one of only few young emerging commercial farmers, was given a chance to manage his own farm when he was given a five-year lease for a portion of Leeuwfontein farm. Situated near Bronkhorstspruit in the Metsweding District, Leeuwfontein farm covers an area of about 342 hectares. The area is level, dry and temperatures soar to unbearable levels.
At the entrance to the farm, a huge billboard with the words: "Mphiwe Siyalima", greets visitors. Loosely translated it means "using our given talents, we are farming together".
His farm can be classified as a small, mixed-farming unit as it has the potential to support 60 hectares of irrigation, 70 hectares of arable land and a further seven hectares of extensive vegetable land, while the remainder is grazing land.
When BuaNews visited Mafuleka, the farm workers were at a vegetable plot covered from head to toe in green overalls seemingly oblivious to the sweltering heat and continued to water cabbage and baby marrow.
A tractor, haymaker, trailer, boom sprayer, fertilizer spreader, disc harrow stand to attention at the farm workshop waiting to be used later in the day.
A loud sound pierces through the farm; it's a modern canopy tractor with four women sitting on top of a huge trailer. They are all wearing sun hats to cover their faces from the unbearable heat.
A young man jumps off the tractor, wearing khakhi shorts, a casual light blue shirt, brown socks and boots. He introduces himself and greets those near him.
"There is no time to sit in the office, we are always busy in the field, jump onto the tractor so that we can talk while I continue with my work," he gestures.
Mafuleka's tractor is one that many car owners would envy. It has roof top air conditioners, a car stereo and two small speakers. He doesn't play house or kwaito music, but switches on to a local radio station to get his daily dose of the news.
"Look, I can plough, plant or harvest with a tractor," said the young farmer, whose fancy toy seems to excite him and brings out the little boy in him. He's driving to pick up a surplus of peas where he plans to plant sweet corn in the coming week.
He might be younger than his employees, but they all respect each other. Mavis Mahlangu, 36 said: "We enjoy working with him because he respects us and he always apologises when he is wrong."
Her sentiments are echoed by Mamorena Serothola, a supervisor at the vegetable garden. "We don't even pay attention to the fact that our boss is young because he treats us with much respect," she said.
He has employed 11 workers, all of which are women. Five of them are earmarked to be employed permanently.
Born in Esikhawini, Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal, Mafuleka's love for farming began developing when he was just 10-years-old. His grandfather was a subsistence farmer in the area.
"Subsistence farming was the order of the day during my early years. I strongly believe that there is a need for more new blood from historically disadvantaged communities in the agricultural community," he explained.
However, the road to success for the young farmer, who has a B.Tech degree in Crop Production, was not an easy one. In 2004, he left shortly before he could complete his experiential training at a mining company in Mpumalanga. He then went to the University of Zululand where he completed his 18 month training in farming and related fields. He was not paid during his first seven months.
"The working environment was good and I was not worried about not getting a monthly stipend, but through my hard work, I was back paid all the money for the seven months that I worked at the university," he said.
Mafuleka, who matriculated from King Bhekuzulu College in Nongoma, joined McCain Foods South Africa in 2006 as a crop manager and was based at the Leeuwfontein farm.
His break came a few years later when he discovered that the farm was for sale. Determined to become a farmer, he approached Tim Hedges, a former colleague at McCain to act as his mentor and advisor.
At that time, the farm was leased by McCain, so together with Tim, they developed a plan that finally led to Mafuleka being granted a five-year lease by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
Government acquired the farm as part of its Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) which aims to accelerate the land redistribution process and ensure maximum productive use of the acquired land.
With the lease expiring on 31 May 2015, Mafuleka said he will use the 30 hectares to grow crops for commercial purposes.
There is irrigation equipment installed as part of the agreement with McCain Foods and the young farmer will be planting peas in winter and sweet corn in summer.
One of the key financial strategic partners, SamQuartz has committed to invest R1. 3 million in capital farming equipment during the first year of the farming project.
McCain has purchased and installed a 30 hectare pivot valued at about R450 000 for the project. The equipment will be paid off by Mphiwe Siyalima through the income generated by the delivery of peas and sweet corn to McCain over the five years.
The department has approved funding of over R1 million to be used to cover key production expenses.
