Vegetables put the bread on Esther’s table
After plowing and harvesting, Esther comes to her stall at Bendstore, the local Giyani shopping centre
POLOKWANE – Esther Shivambu (45) is a true problem solver.
The mother of four, who also has two grandchildren, got tired of waiting for someone to finance her education after matric and decided to buy products to sell.
Esther, who is from Homu 14A village outside Giyani, got into farming and has not looked back since. She started farming on a community farm and only in 2013 started farming on her own land.
The two hectare land is currently what Esther and her three workers use to produce baby marrow, okra, morogo, spinach, onions, butternut and beetroot.
After plowing and harvesting, Esther comes to her stall at Bendstore, the local Giyani shopping centre.
There are no jobs so it’s better to just farm and make your own food and just go on living.
“I have two minor children for whom I receive a government grant, but sitting back and relaxing because of that is not going to work for me and my family. Things are expensive these days.”
An added bonus is that her children and grandchildren are very healthy, hardly get ill and never have to worry about what they’ll eat at night.
Esther points out that children should not be made to view morogo and other vegetables as something that is eaten at home only when the money for meat has run out.
Growing up, her father was also a farmer who took up farming and selling the produce after he lost his job. Esther saw that as a way of raising children and making a decent living.
Esther and her husband are fortunate to have raised enough money to have a borehole drilled on their farm, so they are not really affected by the drought crippling other farms. They have a bakkie they use to deliver their vegetables to other vendors. Esther urges other women to not only depend on their salaries or government grants, but to look to farming as a way to eradicate poverty.
