Dintle Maphala

Youth in Agriculture

Nominee's Province:
Eastern Cape

Age:
28

Project Name/Description:
Goedehoop Farm

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/ddintlemaphala

Maphala, owner of Goodehoop Farm in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape, is well on her way to becoming a top farmer. Maphala, 28, received the 287ha expanse from her parents in 2016 as a gift after completing her National Diploma in Farming Management from Boland College in Worcester, Western Cape. The farm rears Angora goats that produce mohair, its main source of income. It also trades in beef cattle and chicken eggs. Maphala, the last of eight children, says her folks bought the farm in 2008 when she was in high school and she would help out by milking goats before going to school. The farm also rears Brangus cattle and egg-producing chickens. Six hectares of the farm is arable land and on it she plants crops such as oats and Lucerne for supplementary feeding. Maphala has three full-time employees and hires four temporary workers during the kidding season (period when baby goats are born), vaccination and dipping period. She also employs 18 temporary workers during the sheering season which happens twice a year. Maphala, who has certificates in pig and poultry production, is now gunning for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certificate. She is also the deputy chairperson of Eastern Cape’s Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development (YARD), a structure established in 2007 to improve participation and development of youth in agriculture. “Farming makes the world go round… without farming there’s no life,” she says.