Whites help out emerging farmers

It is not about black farmers or white farmers. It is about the land and the food grown on the land so that all of this country's people can eat.

For Free State commercial mealie farmer Willie Groenwald, failure to grow crops is not just disastrous for farmers but for the entire country.

" If we fail, we all fail - you, me, the workers, the shops, our children," he said.

"Just look what has happened to our neighbours."

His neighbour, an emerging farmer, died last year and his wife abandoned the property to live with her family.

Since then the property has been destroyed by thieves and vandals - who have stolen corrugated-iron roof sheeting and smashed out steel window frames.

The neighbour's wife died two weeks ago and her children have no plans to return to the land.

Groenwald said: "They had dreams. Then life happened."

His neighbours were chicken farmers from Gauteng who began farming in the Free State's Losberg area three years ago. They were among dozens of emerging farmers who occupied land that the government had bought for them.

But that is where the support ended, and so they turned to more experienced farmers for help.

Farmer Penny Mpele has to rent out some of his land to previous owners as he cannot afford to farm it all.

They are also teaching him the ropes.

Said Mpele: "They are our saviours.

"Finances are the biggest challenge. If you don't have money, you don't have implements and with no implements you might as well pack up and go."