Mampe Mmeregi (60), the owner of Temaretha Agriculture Training School and Temaretha Piggery Farm in Gauteng, has trained several farmers in her community.
The AgriSeta-accredited school trains farmers in Animal Production 1 and 2 and Plant Production 1, from Mmeregi’s 214-hectare farm. “Training started in 2015 and was accredited by the AgriSeta last year,” Mmeregi confirmed.
The successful entrepreneur also runs a piggery, produces hay and vegetables and farms sheep, goats and cows. “I sell the pigs to Devon Meat Wholesalers and the sheep, goats and vegetables to members of the public,” she said.
This year, the farm also harvested 30 tons of maize, which it sells to agricultural services company AFGRI. “The farm is divided into two hectares for the piggery, 1.5 for the garden and 149 for the hay, and we have 160 hectares of arable land,” she said.
Mmeregi was this year’s winner of the Gauteng Female Entrepreneur Awards in the Top Entrepreneur: Commercial Farmer category. In 2013, she was the first runner-up in the Agri Business Woman of the Year competition, beating her position of second runner up in 2011.
Mmeregi applied for her farm in 2008, through the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, and received it in 2009. In 2013, she was selected for the AFGRI Harvest Time Investment Farmer Development Programme and received assistance to develop the farm for five years. She said that the farm has since increased production, leading to the employment of 10 permanent staff members.
Mmeregi also received a grant from the Gauteng Economic Propeller, with which she used to buy equipment for her farm.
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