South Africa: Subsistence Farmers Wait for the Rain and Government Help

Government’s recent announcement to help subsistence farmers brings hope – but not everyone will benefit.

Subsistence farmer Jantjie Ramokone remembers how as a little boy, every year in early October, his entire village would begin preparing their fields in anticipation of the planting season after the rains later in the month.

“It was exciting times. We would be walking to the fields, singing, calling each other to go work the land because the rain was coming,” reminisced 68-year-old Ramokone with a smile.

After the rains, they would start cultivating their patches of land, usually one hectare per household as allocated by the traditional authority, on the outskirts of the village with ploughs drawn by oxen.

“That was our way of life. We were farming so that we could eat. We never bought food. We ate what we produced,” he said.

They farmed sorghum, millet, mealies, melons, beans, morogo, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and other crops. They also kept cattle and goats which provided milk. During the rainy season, the veld around the village teemed with wild fruit that supplemented their diets….

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