Continual improvement is important, says New Era grain farmer

Paulus Mosia from Edenville, Free State, a finalist for the 2019 Grain SA/ABSA/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year award, says that by using better inputs and improving production management, he increased his maize yield from 3,2t/ha to 5,2t/ha in just one year. Siyanda Sishuba reports.

- Siyanda Sishuba

Free State farmer Paulus Mosia grew up on the farm Vryheid in the Edenville district with his parents and nine siblings. His father, Jonas, worked here as a farmworker and his mother, Maria, as a housekeeper. His parents were later able to start farming on their own on communal land, and after Mosia matriculated and relocated to Welkom, where he worked on the mines, he used some of his salary to buy cattle to keep on his parents’ land. In 2005, when he heard about an opportunity to apply for access to land through the former Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (agriculture department) Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme, he submitted an application. This was finally approved three years later, and he was granted access to lease the 200ha farm Sterkwater, which has 60ha of arable land and 140ha of grazing. Subsequently, he also leasesd an additional 200ha from neighbouring farmers, of which 82ha are planted to crops and 118ha are used for grazing.

FARMER DEVELOPMENT

Mosia and his wife Namosonto, who runs a 300-chicken broiler business on the farm, are active members of the Edenville Maize Study Group.

Nomasonto was also instrumental in setting up a new study group in Heilbron, which is now part of the Grain SA Farmer Development Programme. Both say that participating in this programme has changed their lives for the better.

Mosia is a member of the Bemifa Co-operative, which was formed in collaboration with neighbouring farmers with the assistance of US-headquartered company Gen X and support from US Agency for International Development. Through this programme, farmers receive animal management training and are assisted with buying inputs collectively to obtain discounted bulk rates.