{"id":2595,"date":"2022-01-14T11:21:53","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T11:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2023-01-26T05:44:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T05:44:25","slug":"why-successful-farmers-practice-soil-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/?p=2595","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I want to be the SA ambassador of black farming\u2019 \u2013 Buyambo Mantashe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B<\/span>uyambo Mantashe is hip, urban and a 24-year-old Joburger-turned-farmer. Orrock Robertsen caught up with him on his family farm in the Eastern Cape to get his views on land reform and the opportunities for young black farmers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buyambo Mantashe is the son of ANC secretary-general and former chairperson of the SA Communist Party, Gwede Mantashe. On an icy morning recently, we met up in Elliot, Eastern Cape. It soon became evident that Buyambo is more farmer than urban politician when he rolled up in a Nissan NP 200 with dented tailgate. Buyambo farms on his family farm, Siphamba Bloemvlei. Initial impressions were strengthened as\u00a0Farmer\u2019s Weekly<\/em>\u00a0pulled into the driveway of a modest farmhouse; this young farmer is not the usual \u2018black diamond\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf you want to find the Mantashes over Christmas, this is where we\u2019ll be,\u201d he said.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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The Mantashes bought the 531ha dryland farm in October 2012. They currently run 129 cattle and just over 800 sheep, and Buyambo has planted 98ha to a mixture of oats, turnips and maize as feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNext season, I want to expand my lands and put some under soya,\u201d he says. The veld grass is sour and good feed will be essential for expansion. \u201cI\u2019ve been here only three years and am still learning a lot,\u201d admits Buyambo, who grew up in Johannesburg, attending Potchefstroom High School for Boys where he was head boy in 2009. He then took a BSc in agricultural economics at the University of Fort Hare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His ambition, he says, is to \u201cdramatically increase\u201d food production on the farm and start a small feedlot. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky here in Elliot with a big abattoir just 10km from the farm, so fattening and selling makes sense.\u201d
Buyambo provides the day-to-day technical expertise on the farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selecting breeds<\/strong>
Buyambo has finally won a long-running family debate as to the sheep breed best suited to the farm, paving the way for expansion. \u201cMy old man was dead set on the SA Mutton Merino, whereas I\u2019ve always liked Dormers. Last year, I put one up against the other and got better prices for my Dormers at market,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His flock is currently mixed, but he\u2019s already in the process of converting to Dormer. However, his father\u2019s passion prevailed when it came to the cattle herd. \u201cOur cattle herd are mostly Ngunis,\u201d explains Buyambo. \u201cMy father likes them, whereas I dislike them with a passion, because they carry no weight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying in China<\/strong>
Apart from strategies for the farm, Buyambo has his own plans, which include studying and entering agribusiness and the value chain. \u201cI\u2019m going to Beijing to do a three-year master\u2019s degree in agribusiness. I foresee long-term trade relations between South Africa and China, and believe that if I can relate to both countries, I open a future for myself within the agribusiness sector,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, unsurprisingly, there is the political arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the BSc (Agriculture) courses are packed to capacity at Fort Hare,\u201d says Buyambo, who currently chairs the South African Student Congress (SASCO) in the Eastern Cape. \u201cUnlike in Johannesburg, the youth in the Eastern Cape are interested in farming. Unfortunately, very few of these graduates actually become farmers. After varsity, most do a bridging year to become teachers because there are no work opportunities for them in the agriculture sector.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI really don\u2019t think government does enough to support young agri graduates to become farmers. \u00a0\u201cWe at SASCO challenge the ANC directly on the involvement of black graduates in the sector.\u201d\u00a0He also disagrees with how government approaches land reform: \u201cIt should be giving land to people who know something about farming \u2013 who have at the very least studied it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

Buyambo is keen to persuade youngsters to take up farming and believes he is ideally placed to do so as he understands both sides of the coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u2018If you want to find the Mantashes over Christmas, this is where we\u2019ll be,\u2019 says Buyambo.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived the urban life in Johannesburg and lived the rural Eastern Cape life, and I want to utilise this experience in order to educate black youth about agriculture,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to be the face of black farming in South Africa, I want to be the [mining magnate] Patrice Motsepe of agriculture, and change young black minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stresses that it is unnecessary for a young black farmer to farm \u201cin the middle of nowhere\u201d when he or she could buy a 50ha plot outside Krugersdorp, Magaliesburg or Honeydew. Black youth, he says, do not understand the profitability of small, intensive Gauteng farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also tend to just focus on the negatives in terms of black farmers in this country. I want to push the positives.\u201d As a success story, Buyambo readily uses the area in which he farms as an example. \u201cThe Elliot district is, I believe, one of the most diverse, integrated farming communities in the country. Approximately 43% of all privately owned land in Elliot belongs to black farmers and people are not killing each other. We live in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElliot is a success story that needs to be talked about and showcased,\u201d he says proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone Buyambo on 072 709 0216 or email him at <\/em>buyambomantashe@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published on 19 June 2015 in Farmer\u2019s Weekly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buyambo Mantashe is hip, urban and a 24-year-old Joburger-turned-farmer. Orrock Robertsen caught up with him on his family farm in the Eastern Cape to get his views on land reform…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farming","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17706,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions\/17706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siphamba.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}