READER LETTER | Du Preez enjoys fruits of his labour despite challenges

The Land Reform programme cannot be written down as a lost cause, there are untold successful stories of black farmers who produce to export internationally and also enjoying local support. Acknowledging such black farmers like Ricardo Du Preez, who farms in Langfontein Fruit Farm in Haarlem, George, with his wife and son for their business, Ricas Fruits, will inspire formerly dispossessed communities.

Du Preez has been farming at the Langfontein Farm since June 2016, holding a 30-year lease from the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, with an opportunity to become the farm owner through title deed. Ricas Fruits export internationally to the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.

The farm measures 403.7156 hectares and was acquired by the department in 2015 and is one of the farms being used by the department to provide black farmers access to productive land to contribute to poverty eradication and food security in SA.

The farm has created several job opportunities for the locals, employing 29 permanent workers and 70 seasonal workers for harvesting, pruning, thinning, planting and installation of irrigation – and produces different types of apples, pears and nectarines.

It’s worth mentioning that Du Preez is one of the most resilient farmers we can count on under the land reform programme, he survived the devastation that struck local farmers in 2020 when hailstorms destroyed farming lands. Ricas Fruits suffered 100% damage, the evidence of such damage still visible on orchards and the effects of damaged fruit – which will inevitably have to be dumped if it finds no place in the local markets. He rose beyond that devastation.

Du Preez sees himself as a successful farmer having farmed at a neighbouring farm for 20 years. He’s a self-made farmer who proved the naysayers wrong that land reform’s fruits will be shared among the community of Harlem and internationally.

Mpho Rammutla, Proclamation Hill, Pretoria