Jan Masiu: Building A Family Business

For Jan Masiu, who used to earn his living as a farmworker in the Marquard area of the Free State for most of his life, sitting at home after retiring in 2011 was not an option. He wanted to continue farming on his own with the 75 head of cattle he managed to accumulate over the years.

-  Izak Hofmeyr

Finding a farm, however, proved to be difficult. After a protracted process of applying for government assistance, he was successful in 2017, and was given the opportunity to rent the farm Driekoppen in the Senekal area on a 30-year lease agreement with the option to buy.

“While I was waiting to find my own farm, I kept my livestock on the farm of MJ Mohape, on the other side of Senekal, to whom I will be forever grateful. In time I was able to move my animals to my own farm.”

Reaping the rewards of hard work

Driekoppen, however, was in a state of disrepair. The first thing Jan did was to repair the infrastructure, starting with the house and garden, then moving on to the waterpipe network and dams. He also made headway eradicating bankrupt bush (slangbos) on the farm with funding from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. For this he employed people from the township.

“I have been a foreman for many years and know how to manage people. For me it is important to lead by example, so I made a point of working shoulder to shoulder with the workers I employed.”

An early setback came when Jan wanted to plant Driekoppen’s first maize crop. The government-supplied long growth season white maize cultivar was delivered too late. “We started planting at the end of December. Although the maize grew very well, the first frost caught us before the maize was ready. There was very little income from the maize, yet I still had to pay all the contractors. Fortunately, I had also planted some sunflower, and the harvest brought in enough money to buy a bakkie, which I urgently needed.”