Rural farmer survives difficult times

Mabote used the money from his small holding farm to educate his children and build himself a house

A self-made Free State peasant farmer has not let his lack of formal education and agricultural resources stand in his way. Joseph Mabote (62) makes a living from selling vegetables which he produces organically in his backyard garden.

Mabote, who resides at the Feloane village outside Thaba Nchu, is a father of three who owns a three- hector farm. He said his life used to be extremely unpleasant, until he decided to start farming and his passion and perseverance have seen him through.

He told The Weekly on Tuesday that he started farming in the 1790s because he could not get employment and his family was feeling the brunt of his joblessness.

A few decades ago Mabote decided to utilise his unused piece of land and managed turn it into his family’s goldmine. By 1985, he had already established himself as a leading producer of beetroot, carrots, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, pumpkin and peas.

Since he did not possess modern farming machinery, he used to rent a tractor from a neighbouring white farmer. The financial implications of this arrangement were minimal because his workforce expressly consisted of his family“I was able to take my kids to school, build a big fully furnished house and even buy cattle and a business van with the money I made,” recalled Mabote.

Problems started when the hired tractor broke down 2007. He could no longer plough his farm, so he resorted to the backyard garden, although he could not plant everything he wanted like he used to.
As a result, Mabote said he had to settle for easy maintenance vegetables like spinach and beetroot. These are in high demand and are easy to manage.

“I know all about which soil is good for which vegetable. I take care of my vegetables as if they are my children because I have passion for what I do. My dream is to pass my skills on to up and coming young farmer so they too learn to live from the soil and stop complaining about jobs.”

In the light of the high rate of unemployment in his village, Mabote wishes he could rope in the jobless youth. However, he cannot do this as he cannot afford to pay them. According to him, all he needs to make this dream a reality is a hydroelectric, generator to pump water from a nearby dam; vegetable tunnels and a tractor.

Not all is lost, as the department of agriculture has a programme in place to intervene and help smallholder farmers get off the groundThe MEC for agriculture, Mosebenzi Zwane’s spokesperson, Life Mokone, said the department has a budget for farmers and a development programme under which extension officers visits farmers to assess their needs.

Mokone said the programme identifies an individual farmer’s problems and needs and, when funds are available, the department uses that budget to help address them. He promised that the department will to look into Mabote’s situation and see how it can help.

On the other hand, the relationship banker at Landbank, Wesley Shongwe, said the bank deals specifically with people who have access to land. He said the institution uses the standard credit loan terms to determine a person’s credit-worthiness.

Shongwe advised Mabote to visit the bank’s offices in Bloemfontein, emphasising that age does not matter for a land owner to
get assistance.