Fighting the Kalahari

Farming in the desert is not for the faint-hearted. If it’s not drought, it’s invading plants one has to battle with, and this farmer is winning the battle.

It takes an exceptional kind of person to farm in the Kalahari. There is no electric power in most parts, the roads are rough, and droughts are regular and extreme, while the wind is capable of causing spectacular dust storms and erosion. In addition, a new ‘enemy’ has emerged. Driedoring (Rhigozum trichotomum) encroachment, together with the many species of acacia thorn (haakbos), has become a major problem in many parts of the desert. But Tromp Cilliers has found a way to fight it and turn sand dunes into viable land. Cilliers, who has spent nearly 40 years in the Kalahari, is an exceptional person. Not only has he taken the hardships of the Kalahari in his stride, he has also developed into a successful farmer. His main farm, Hardegat, is perhaps aptly named. He has bought three other farms, so 40 000ha of Kalahari is now under his control. The sheep flocks have ewes. In addition he also runs 40 head of cattle and some goats. Cilliers says the Kalahari didn’t change much for almost three decades, but during the seven-year-drought in the 1980s it took a turn for the worse.