“My farm supports four people”

“I completed a poultry production course at Buhle in 2015, and now run a farm with up to 3000 chickens per cycle in Brakpan,” says Lebogang Molefe. “This farm is paying the rent and buying food for our family of four, and providing one more full-time job. The Buhle training was excellent, which is why my farm is doing so well, and the support officer filled in the gaps.

“He taught me when to slaughter my birds to help me make a profit, and to change the chicks’ bedding frequently to keep them healthy. He has also advised me to diversify, so we are planning to go into pigs and vegetables, because our soil is very rich.

“Buhle has played a major, major role in our lives. It has been superb. I would recommend them to anybody.”

Introducing Buhle

There are many thousands of aspiring farmers in South Africa who have access to arable land but don't have the skills they need to farm it. This problem must be urgently addressed, if we are to ensure the food security of people in the rural areas. The Buhle Farmers’ Academy is a non-profit organisation that trains and mentors aspiring farmers from across South Africa. We offer holistic courses covering a broad range of topics, from the theory of farming to hands-on practical skills, and farm management. Trainees come from all over the country to learn at our two campuses, one of which is near Delmas, Mpumalanga, and the second, which opened in 2016, at Mkhondo (Piet Retief), KwaZulu-Natal. In our 16 years of operation we have grown from strength to strength, and have now trained well over 4 000 emerging farmers – half of them women and 65% of them youth - in vegetable, crops, livestock and mixed farming. Even better, about 8 000 jobs have been created due to Buhle, based on the assumption that for every new farmer established at least one additional job is created.

Our Mission Buhle’s mission is train new and aspiring farmers from across South Africa to run farming businesses that are both profitable and sustainable. The effect is that we are helping to alleviate poverty by creating jobs in our own agricultural sector.

Over the years, Buhle has developed a best-practice model that could help make a huge difference in helping to transform agriculture in South Africa. In the rural and poorest areas of our country, the biggest employers are government, agriculture and mining. Most of these employers are unlikely to radically increase their take-up of employees. Our biggest hope lies in developing a culture of entrepreneurship, and agriculture is one of the key sectors for doing so. Universities and training colleges are expensive and have strict academic entrance criteria, which many aspiring farmers cannot fulfil. They need accessible, practical training with the follow-up mentorship and coaching that enables them to overcome the myriad, unpredictable challenges of agriculture. Buhle fulfils these needs.

Our History In the years after 1994 – when South Africa became a democracy – our newspapers were peppered with stories of how farming ventures fail after being handed over to black farmers. It became clear that transferring land was simply not enough. Emerging farmers also needed farming skills and ongoing mentorship.

A group of concerned citizens with agricultural expertise decided to address this problem. In the year 2000, they got together to form the Food Health Hope Foundation and, under its auspices, Buhle – meaning “It is good” – was established. Our founding partner was Monsanto, who donated to us the fertile land that became our training farm and gave us the start-up capital we needed. We developed our first curriculum in conjunction with Tshwane University of Technology, focussing on vegetable production as it has a short production cycle. Two years later, we added poultry, livestock and crop production courses. In 2004, we registered the Buhle Farmers’ Academy as an NPO in order to continue our fundraising efforts. We have grown from strength to strength over the years. From our first cohort of 57 students in the year 2000, we trained over 517 in 2015, and we have now trained well over 4000 farmers over the years. Our heartfelt thanks go to every one of our funding partners. With your backing and partnership, we are indeed fulfilling our mission: to transform dreams into reality for many thousands of aspiring farmers.

Our Approach

Buhle has developed a best-practice model for training aspiring farmers, which includes:

A sound theoretical knowledge base in agricultural technology
Competency based practical skills training
Training in farm business management
Training in appropriate life skills
Effective follow-up and support services.

Our People

Our staff are the people who make it all happen, and behind us is the highest authority of our organisation, the Board of Trustees of the Food Health Hope Foundation. The Board oversees our vision, mission and activities. Motivated entirely by their sense of philanthropy, they donate their time, knowledge, experience and prestige to help grow and guide the Buhle Farmers’ Academy. A picture of our staff on each campus is below, and underneath that is a list of our board of trustees. buhle-staff-2015

Our Partners

Our heartfelt thanks go to every one of our partners, who make our work possible:

Farmer's Weekly story: huge-hearted Buhle graduate mentors 28 young women farmers

Farmer’s Weekly has just published the inspiring story of Linda Zwane, a successful livestock farmer who is convinced that agriculture holds enormous promise for young black women, and is dedicating most of his time to proving the point.

Linda Zwane, empowering women farmers in Mpumalanga

Livestock farmer Linda Zwane has his own farm to run but thought nothing of taking 120 young women to his farm, introducing them to livestock husbandry and mentoring as many as wished for his guidance.

His generosity, desire to pass in his knowledge and unwavering confidence in the opportunities for young black women in agriculture are reaping extraordinary rewards. After spending time at Zwane’s farm, 40 of the women were extremely keen on farming. Of these, 28 gained scholarships from Monsanto through Khulisa Social Solutions to study a the Buhle Farmers’ Academy, and the Humulani Trust paid the considerable extra transport costs necessary for the livestock students’ practical training. The young women are now primed for success.

Under Mr Zwane’s guidance, they have formed a farming co-operative and applied to the Department of Rural Development for a farm. One has been identified, and the department is considering their application. The young women have every chance of success, says Mr Zwane, as they have been trained not only in farming by Buhle, but also in financial literacy, business management and the many life skills needed to farm as a collective, by Buhle and the NPO Khulisa Social Solutions.

Mr Zwane will continue to mentor the group, once they acquire a farm. The aim is that they obtain enough land for them to work in four groups of seven. One group will concentrate on beef cattle and goats, a second on sheep and dairy cows, the third on a piggery, and the fourth on vegetable production.

Mr Zwane was also the top achiever of his Buhle livestock class when he graduated in 2013. This year he was nominated for the “Star of Buhle” which was awarded at the June 2017 graduation ceremony at the Buhle campus in Piet Retief, for successfully building a farming business. As coincidence would have it, his mentees were graduating on the same day. He has also since received an achievement award from the mayor of Majuba district where he farms.

He regrets the fact that “our fore-fathers didn’t transfer their knowledge of farming to us,” he says. .

“I have three children, two of them adults now, and none of them are interested in farming. But there are so many opportunities for young black women in agriculture these days. I said to myself, ‘I must transfer all the skills I have to anyone who needs them.’”

The young women went to Buhle after taking part in a year-long Global Give Back Circle programme run by Khulisa Social Solutions. This was an education and empowerment programme in which they gain life skills, financial skills, computer literacy and other skills, and are mentored over time. The idea was to empower the group to the extent that they embrace the programme’s “give-back” philosophy.

A friend of Mr Zwane’s wife put him in touch with Tine Cornellie, of Khulisa. After discussions with Tine, he offered to take the young women to his farm in groups, to assess their interest. “I thought at the time, ‘Even if I am only left with seven, I will be happy,’” he said.

Once at Buhle, 21 of the young women studied livestock production, and seven studied vegetable production. “Only one dropped out of their course at Buhle. The rest did very well,” Mr Zwane said. The young women who used to be a little afraid of hooves and horns are now unbeatable in the kraal.

The young women formed such a strong bond with their livestock trainer at Buhle, Gert Steenkamp – who trained Mr Zwane, too – that they refused to graduate until he arrived at the graduation venue. They even composed a song about him, which they sang in a jubilant dance at the ceremony.

“The youngsters whom I train don’t usually leap in boots and all. But really, I was surprised by these girls,” said Mr Steenkamp, who speaks three African languages and communicated with the young women in their home language, Zulu. “They were such hard workers that some of the men struggled to keep up. They are tough and intelligent, every one of them.

“My students all become like my kids, but this group was special. If I saw one struggle with something, I let her do it ten times. They have made me proud. There are strong leaders among them, and if they stick together, they will do well.”

Said Nelly Shezi, 25, one of the 28: “My life was an utter disaster just over a year ago. I have two children and was the breadwinner in my family, but I had been retrenched from my job as an electrical technician. It was difficult, very difficult.

“Now I am excited. Life is much brighter, and it’s getting better and better all the time. I thank Khulisa, Buhle, Mosanto, Humulani – all those who helped me – for this.

“The co-operative is very good, because we work as a team. We bring up ideas, show each other things, and nobody is wrong. I love farming and I am not scared of animals and getting dirty, because success lies in dirty. I wish that other young ladies could see that agriculture is good, it is perfect. It can change our lives. It can change the economy.

“I want to say to other young ladies, ‘If you can push in agriculture, do it, because that is where the job opportunities are. If farming is what you like, too, then you really can do it!’”

END

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