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November 2017
Nelson Mandela said, ‘A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.’ After losing her mother, Ms Mavis Hlatshwayo (55), from Mpuluzi, Mpumalanga, was raised by her grandparents, who were farmers. This is where her dream to become a farmer was ignited.
With Grain SA’s guidance, this mother and her team have introduced new farming methods and are now harvesting around 8 t/ha. In an interview, the 2017 Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial Subsistence Farmer of the Year, said, ‘Grain SA has helped a lot as they have taught me how to farm.’ Grain SA may have been the teacher, but Hlatshwayo was a willing student who is now reaping the rewards of the positive choice she made.
Currently the Hlatshwayos are planting 2 ha of maize, but she is planning to expand her venture and bring in dry beans as a rotation crop. She also dreams of owning more land and creating job opportunities for the unemployed in the community. ‘I perceive these hectares I have planted as a very small portion of what I really want to do, as I wish to increase the number of hectares I am currently farming on.’
While working hard in her own farming enterprise, this remarkable woman still finds time to fulfil her duties as an upstanding representative of the community. She is a dedicated member of the Sizanani Society, an organisation for female members only. They support each other and give donations to community members who are living below the bread line. During a media visit she told them that since the Grain SA programme hasstarted in their village, no-one in their village has gone to bed hungry.
Publication: November 2017
Section: Grain SA
