“Teamwork is one of their greatest strengths,” says this story in Drum magazine about Buhle graduate ‘Tumelo’ Michael Zitha and the other five members of the successful Ithuba Capital Agricultural Primary Cooperative Ltd.

The co-op was also featured in a Nation In Conversation video below, which was posted on the Drum story site.

The six farmers met at Buhle in 2007, and now farm 600ha of maize and soya, as well as 153 cattle and many sheep, on their farm Vlakfontein in Grootvlei, Mpumalanga. They were given internships and subsequent support from Tongaat Hewlett Starch, and received the farm after applying to the Department of Land Reform.

Farming is hard work and it wasn’t always easy, Tumelo says. They are still expanding their farm, which has 1 500 hectares arable land and 1 500 hectares grazing land.

Nevertheless, the group wants to “give back as much as we were fortunate to receive,” says Tumelo in the video, and the co-operative is now training other young farmers in turn. “We have different backgrounds, but the same vision. We sit down to iron out our problems, and find the best solution,” says Tumelo.

Watch the video here and read the story.