Farm have become the lease holders. Apples
and pears from CBL farms are marketed by
Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, the largest exporter
of South African apples and pears. I am very
optimistic about the future of agriculture in
South Africa. It is one of the few industries
that can employ unskilled and even illiterate
people. We have people on the farm who
cannot read or write but know exactly how
to treat a tree to produce the best fruit”, she
says adding: “this is one industry where not
having the skill to write, for example, does not
also mean a person doesn’t have many other
essential skills.”
Lekhori is also an Adult Basic Education
Trainer (ABET) which is offered on the farm.
“We encourage our teams to take advantage
of the training offered on the farm which also
includes life skills. When you treat people with
dignity and respect you have a much better
chance of success. I don’t want my children to
be treated the way that I was, so I am sure to
only treat people the way I want to be. And, for
me, agriculture is all about future generations.
This is an industry in which a real legacy can be
left. Our hard work today will give us rewards
too but will be an asset for our children and
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
their children. When you are proud of what
you do; you do better. We want our children to
see how valuable agriculture is.” For Lekhori it
is disappointing that children of farm workers
tend to leave the farm as soon as they can.
“Our children would prefer to be policemen
and teachers rather than continue on the
farm. This make me sad as we grow the food
that people need to survive. What is more
meaningful than that?”, she asks.
As a CBL farm, Bellcro benefits from access
to early-learning programmes at farm
creches and community schools. “We have
access to facilities supported by the Waitrose
Foundation, for example, and computers and
internet access on the farm with an emphasis
on up-skilling in maths, in particular, through
the CAMI programme.”
Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing’s managing director
Roelf Pienaar says that there are so many
encouraging and positive stories about the
future of agriculture that as a company Tru-
Cape makes a special point of finding and
sharing them. We are so confident about a
successful future for agriculture and food
security when we hear a positive story such as
this one.”
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