In David Mongoato’s office is a picture of himself as a small child, standing in a field of tall, ripe maize plants. He knew than that he wanted to be a farmer.
But the path to your destiny is seldom a straight one. David
and his wife Selloane worked as teachers for many years before he was able to
return to the rich Eastern Cape
soil that he loves.
The Mongoatos now run a thriving 947-hectare maize farm near
Matatiele, with the Drakensberg and the Lesotho border nearby. The farm was
acquired by the State as part of its land reform process. But simply having
access to land doesn’t make you a successful commercial farmer.
A loan from the Masisizane Fund allowed the purchase of
crucial equipment such as farm implements, as well as providing start-up
capital for them and 14 other emerging farmers in the area.
The fund is a non-profit company established from unclaimed
shares by the Old Mutual Group in 2007, in consultation with National Treasury.
It lends development finance, with a key focus on improving the sustainability
of small businesses.
The Mongoatos’ farm is at the core of a partnership of 15
farms, which share some resources, such as silos where maize can be stored
until prices improve. It’s a cluster of small operators whose enterprises are
independently owned but they work together to get contracts. They can build a
support structure of services to keep income in their community rather than
having to contract and so lose revenue, explains David.
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Caption: Daniel Chabana, field officer for the Masisizane Fund, with farmer David Mongoato.
Picture credit: Benna Carroll
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So far it’s working well: “I’m running out of arable land so
I may need to lease land to plant more maize,” he says. He adds that the farm
now has a piggery and plans are afoot to reopen the dairy, which Mogoato says
could initially provide much-needed nutrition to local schools. It could then
become a commercial undertaking and the Mogoatos would have a fully-fledged
mixed-farming operation.
But the farmer with a lifelong love of the land has a longer
view than that: another tractor would help meet the farms’ year-round needs,
from preparing soil, to planting, spraying, fire-prevention, maintenance of
farm roads and so on. There’s clear evidence of the need for the latter, with
many farm roads in the area virtually impassable in the wet summer months.
Better roads mean better access to markets, with benefits to the entire
community and the rural and national economy.
David adds: “Most of my profit goes to hiring a combine
harvester and they’re in such demand that there’s a waiting-list. Getting
finance for one would make sense. We’d hire it out and it would pay for itself
pretty quickly, plus the farmers in the area would get their crops in quicker.”
He says growing the farm is a challenge, but one he loves:
“This doesn’t feel like hard work when you’re doing what you love. It’s
demanding, but there’s the thrill of planting and making what you planted grow,
and seeing it turn into something you can sell. It provides for you and your
family and creates jobs and dignity in your community.”
Does he miss teaching? In a way, he hasn’t left it: he
mentors other emerging farmers in the area and he has a succession plan in
place for the family, with the couple’s four children working on the farm
during holidays, donning gumboots and learning to farm.
David can treasure other pictures now: one of him surrounded
by nearly 800ha of maize, all of it taller than him; others, of the harvested
maize pouring into a silo like amber rain, of workers weighing and sealing bags
of it, ready to be trucked away.
Daniel Chabana, field officer for the Masisizane Fund, says:
“The 15 farms working together gives them some economic muscle and voice in
local affairs. It’s completely in line with the fund’s mandates of employment
creation, poverty eradication and reduction of inequality and contribution to
economic growth.”
The Masisizane Fund has a strong focus is on women, youth
and the disabled, particularly in economically depressed parts of the country:
rural and peri-urban areas and townships. It was established as a Section 21
company following the closure of the Old Mutual Unclaimed Shares Trust in
August 2006 and aims to contribute towards the economic transformation of South Africa.
Source: Meropa Communications
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