Corporate Social Review Magazine 1st Quarter 2012 | Page 37

BUHLE TRAINS TO SUCCEED

“

That is exactly why Buhle was
formed!” says Neil de Smidt
when anyone starts listing the
numerous reports of productive
farming land going to waste because of bad farm management.
Neil, in close co-operation with the
Food Health Hope Foundation understood the desperate need that
existed in South Africa for practical training for emerging farmers.
Thus, in 2000 the Buhle Farmers’
Academy was formed. With a mere
57 students enrolled that year,
Buhle is proud to say that now over
three hundred farmers are trained
each year.
Buhle believes that farming is not
something you learn to do by simply keeping cattle or driving a tractor. It is also not learnt theoretically
from a textbook. Successful farming is a result of good technical
knowledge, the ability to apply that
knowledge day by day in a production system, good business sense
and a disciplined and diligent mindset. In order to train someone to
become a farmer, they have to live
on a farm, learn the daily farming
routines, deal with situations when
things go wrong, and know how to
fix an array of problems. The students at Buhle are taught these
skills on a daily basis. Trainees are
taken through realistic production

35

Students at Buhle

time frames. Thus, Buhle’s poultry
course runs for eight weeks that
allows enough time for preparation
and growing a broiler chicken to
the point of being slaughtered and
sold. The crop course runs for nine
months. It starts with preparing the
land, buying the correct amount of
seed and fertilizer, and ends with
the delivery of the crop to the silos.
It is obligatory for prospective students to already own land or have
access to land, before they start
the training. This means that they
can go back into their community
after completion of the course,
and
immediately
start applying what
was learnt. Running
a successful farming business is by no
means an easy task,
therefore Buhle also
offers ongoing post
training support in
the form of bi-annual
visits and an ongoing
telephonic helpline.

CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW

Ellen Twala came to Buhle with no
farming knowledge. “I did not even
know what a broiler was,” she
laughs. Ellen now earns R20,000
per month from her chickens and
egg business.
Buhle is succeeding in proving
that new farmers can make a huge
difference in providing food security in South Africa. Smaller farms
have lower costs, and if they are
run the Buhle way, they can grow
into large operations and make a
huge impact on their communities.
“I did not know anything about
proper farming or breeding systems” says Mr Lawrence Hlonipho.
“Before I started at Buhle, I had 25
cattle. I now own 160 cattle. I now
know when to breed and how to
breed. My income has escalated
and I employ three people.”
Mr Jeremy Nkosi had a vacant
piece of land available and he was
trying to grow crops. He did the
Buhle courses, and now successfully farms with maize, as well as
sheep and cattle. “Buhle taught me