Some of these challenges, according to a local female farmer Mohadi Mopeli, is obtaining land to farm and lacking the necessary skills to do so. Mopeli, who farms with crops and livestock in Bochabela Village in Qwaqwa, in the Free State, says she hopes to see more women obtaining land and becoming commercial farmers. Here is Mopeli….

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Mopeli, who grew up in a farming family and -community, resigned from her job as a librarian in 2006 to pursue farming on a full-time basis.

She says her vision is to see people from her rural community empowered with the necessary skills to become farmers and to create employment. Mopeli adds that she would like to see more black women, especially amongst the youth, become farmers.

Her hopes are that farming will bring people from all backgrounds and races together. This, as “the white community excel in farming, and black farmers can maybe unite and partner with white farmers to push the country forward, to fight poverty, to create employment and to create even unity”.

Furthermore, her advice to emerging farmers is that they should not be afraid to start small and that they should have patience and be resilient. “They must also knock on many doors and ask for help from those who are more experienced in farming. They must also know and remember that farming is everything – from farming you get food, from farming you get clothing [and] from farming you get pleasure,” she explains.

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