Ohrigstad's tiny big farmer

Agriculture courses through the veins of the Els family, who have been farming in the Ohrigstad valley in Limpopo since the 1930s. And they are getting younger and younger: Grandfather Jan Els was 36 when he set out, father Dewald 27… and littleWaldo got behind the wheel of massive machines at the age of 6!

- MIA LOUW

The Ohrigstad valley is green and thriving after the good late-summer rains in February. Yet it is an area where the climate and rainfall vary dramatically, depending on how high up or low down you live: when 280mm fell in the upper reaches of the valley, the Elses further down had 80mm.

The Els family farm, Haakhoek, is 4km outside the town. “The name Haakhoek comes from the name of this plain. It is known for its many umbrella thorn trees [haak-en-steekbome], which cling to your clothes. The peak behind the farm is Tafelkop, and that deep notch is Olienhoutkloof,” explains Dewald Els.

Three generations of Elses currently live on the farm, of which Waldo (8) and Marko (6) are the youngest. Their parents are Dewald and Melissa, and then there are Dewald’s parents, Oupa Jan and Ouma Lenie.

Jan starts at the beginning: “My father and grandfather farmed here too. Every now and then they’d have to flee the drought, then they’d go find work elsewhere. My father worked as a blaster in the mines. If it had rained enough for a change and there was water in the river, he’d come back and farm again.”

Today the family farms with seed maize, seed beans, cabbage, butternuts, sweet potatoes and Bonsmaras. a diverse group of farmers here have been trying everything over the years, from wheat and tobacco to citrus and piquanté peppers.

“All the strange things came in because the tobacco folded in the 1970s. Tobacco was the main product and many of the farmers went bankrupt. After that, every guy tried something different.