Elderness Ntshalintshali – Swaziland

The involvement of Gender Links (GL) with the disabled community is highly appreciated

Make Elderness (affectionately known as Make E) is a farmer from Mancubeni area in Mankayane which is in the Manzini region. Mancubeni is in the Highveld which boasts mountains and rivers and rich fertile soils. The climate also favours crop production and animal husbandry because there is plenty of rainfall in the region in summer. Her land is situated next to a stream which she uses to draw water for watering her farm during the winter season. Make E plants her vegetables and crops throughout the year. Her farm is easily accessible by foot or by vehicle.

She secured five hectares of land and fenced it for farming although currently she uses about three hectares to plant her crops. She cultivates the crops and vegetables for consumption but mainly for sale. Elderness practices rotation so the soil can nourish itself by using legumes and putting in lime and manure. She plants her vegetables on a monthly basis so she can meet the market demand.

Temas Veges was established in 2014 and she supplies crops and vegetables to people around her home area and to the local market. “I was motivated by the lack of vegetables in the market at certain times”. She supplies organisations like NAMBoard and other consumers who are able to come and collect her produce using their own transport. Local vendors also support her. She aims to get her own transport and to cultivate all her land so that she can meet the market’s demand for her vegetables.

Temas Veges has created job opportunities for local people. She hires casual labourers to do weeding and harvesting. She also motivates other women in her community to venture into farming because it can help to generate income to support their families. She is willing to share the knowledge that she has on farming with other people. Make E is an agriculturist (umlimisi) in her area.

She met Gender Links through AMICALL, an organisation working with underprivileged people in urban areas. She attended the entrepreneurship training programme and she was one of the women chosen to represent her town at the 2015 national summit where she won a prize in the existing business category. Her wish is to see other women stop associating owning businesses with masculinity. Women can do anything as long as they focus on it.