Elated subsistence sheep farmer, Nowandile Mbana (60) of Mafini Village in Libode, under Nyandeni Local Municipality, has described the Dohne Merino ram she received from the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) as her newborn baby.
Mbana was one of 15 sheep farmers from Mafini Village who received a ram from DRDAR as part of the department’s efforts to improve sheep, wool, and meat quality of small-scale farmers.
Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, officially handed over the ram to the farmers, on Thursday, July 27.
Pieters further handed over a R1.2 million shearing shed fitted with equipment and a dipping tank to the association of woolgrowers in Mafini Village called Hlanganani, on the same day.
“I am incredibly happy to have benefitted and received a Dohne Merino ram which will really improve the quality of my flock. My ram is like a newborn baby to me. I check on it every day that it is grazing and in good health,” said Mbana.
Mbana, together with her late husband, started farming sheep with only one sheep. At some point their flock increased to 35 but, due to outbreak of diseases, her flock decreased to the 15 she has currently.
Meanwhile, Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, urged the small-scale farmers to be business-minded and realise that farming is a business.
“Farming is a business. When you sell your wool, do not take the money you get from that and spend it recklessly, but invest it in your farming businesses. As a farmer, you must be able to calculate the turnover and expenses from your businesses so that you can see whether you are making a profit or not,” Pieters told the farmers.
According to Pieters, her department has built eight shearing sheds under the Nyandeni Local Municipality alone at a cost of R10.6 million.
She further said that more sheds would be constructed during the current and next fiscal year.
DRDAR has so far distributed 144 rams to small-scale farmers under the OR Tambo District Municipality, with 62 of those for farmers under the Nyandeni Local Municipality.
Pieters also urged farmers to groom the next generation of farmers to take over their farming businesses.
