NEWS
Bora as a child with
his grandfather,
Andrew Aphiri.
•••
Here is Bora's children
Onthathile and Leano.
patches. “Other farmers weren’t
that fortunate.” All in all he utilises
600 hectares of land for grazing
and leases the remaining land to
other famers in the area.
SENSIBLE FARMING
This year the family decided to
plant only 80 hectares. The reason
for this was to minimise the risk
during the drought season. “In
retrospect we could have planted
more, but the risk was too great.”
He decided to plant 45 hectares
of white maize and 35 hectares of
yellow maize. When Senwes Scenario visited him, they were busy
making bales to sell. This, as well
as the rental income they receive,
assists their cash flow situation to
a large extent - something most
farmers are familiar with.
STAFF
Bora employs two people on his
farm who help him with everything. He adds that there are about
five houses on the farm which
he leases from the government
where his workers as well as other
people stay. “I look after my staff
well. First and foremost I provide
a house, electricity and water for
them.”
FAMILY
The lady in Bora’s life is Boitumelo
and they have known each other
since high school. They have two
children, a son Onthathile (2) and
a girl Leano, who is 5 months old.
They live in Mafikeng but he sees
them whenever he can.
Bora Monyatsi, a confident
young farmer, on his farm.
HIS MENTOR
His mentor in farming is Herculas Willemse, a large commercial
farmer in the area. He always tells
me to learn as much as I can from
him while he is still there, which is
exactly what Bora does.
SENWES
He also has a lot of respect
for Senwes Agronomist, Julias
Ramohlabi. “Julias is like an older
brother to me. There is a lot of
mutual respect between us and he
is very understanding.” Besides
the assistance from Julias, Senwes
also offers other services, such as
the extension of loans to farmers.
He is also in the fortunate position
that the farm is only 3 kilometres
away from the nearest Senwes silo,
Raathsvlei silo.
MOTTO
He believes in the saying: “Don’t
be afraid to be yourself.” As a
Christian Bora says that one has to
have a strong character to weather
all challenges. “If you don’t go
through something tough now
and again, you will not be able to
meet challenges.”
TIME-OUT
Bora admits that things can get
hard at times. When that happens
he applies the advice he was given
by a motivational speaker / psycho
logist. “Once in a while I go out in
the veld and just shout. I’ve learned
to shout where nobody can hear
me. The veld is my therapist.”
THINGS HE LEARNED
One thing he learned is that as a
farmer, your job doesn’t stop when
the work day is over. “I’ve also
learned to look after my stuff”.
Here Bora refers to stock theft that
has plagued him since 2014. At
one stage 52 cows were stolen and
they got 27 back. Since then the
herd has grown to 37.
After two years of farming it
seems as though Bora has experienced the highs and the lows,
which are shaping him to become
a great farmer. May the name of
his farm “Rain is wealth” ring true
in the future!
SENWES Scenario • JUN/JUL 2016
15