To mark Women’s Month in August, Mathuba Genetics – owned by Emmanuel Mudau, a successful goat and sheep farmer in Ha-Ravhele, outside Makhado in Limpopo – will give a female would-be farmer a breeding starter pack of 10 female goats and a ram. The winner must live in one of Limpopo’s five district municipalities.
By: Lebogang Mashala
Emmanuel Mudau announced his giveaway on the Mathuba Genetics Facebook page. Asked for more details, he said it was a way to give back to his community.
“I’m doing this to empower others to become farmers and make a living from farming. Growing up poor and without inheritance or resources to start a farm, I felt compelled to do something,” says Mudau.
Thanks to the people who support and believe in him, Mathuba Genetics is growing in leaps and bounds. As a result, he has decided to empower one woman with a starter pack so she can launch her farming career.
Mathuba Genetics will adopt the project and mentor the winner until she starts making money from the goats. “We will ensure that she grows and becomes a member of Indigenous Veld Goats so that she can sell at production auctions and become a fully registered member of the breed society.”
Farmers are encouraged to nominate any deserving female with ambitions or experience in farming by July 24. In addition to the starter pack of 10 females and a ram, the winner will also receive assistance with building a kraal, and medication worth up to R50,000.
Mudau, a self-taught goat and sheep breeder, started out by buying three goats with money from his pension when he resigned from a furniture store in 2009. Under the brand Mathuba Genetics, which he registered in 2015, he has become a respected stud breeder of Bosvelder sheep, Savanna and Indigenous Veld goats.
His success is a huge contrast to his early life. He was born into poverty and raised by a single father. He had to fend for himself from a young age and found work at a furniture shop as an assistant to an employee who could not read or write. He eventually became a sales consultant.
“Those of us raised in rural areas found farming one of the most promising sources of hope,” he says.
“Although life was extremely challenging as a child, farming provided food. My father wasn’t a commercial farmer, but he fed us, which made me realise that becoming a professional farmer would be more rewarding.”
