Mama Breakfast knows all about farming
A RED-BLANKETED Xhosa woman has singletaken farming in the heart of Buffalo City Metro (BCM) by storm and is selling produce to local supermarkets.
Maliya Breakfast, 73, originally from Centane, began tilling the soil as a little girl. She never attended school, she said. She moved to Nxarhuni village near East London shortly after she married and built up a commercial farming business.
Now she supplies produce to small businesses, hospitals and butcheries.
Breakfast owns a farm in Smiling Valley on the outskirts of Mdantsane, where she has 100 cows, 200 sheep, 15 pigs and many chickens.
“I partnered with my children when I started this farm. It is a family business,” she said
Her farming extends to her doorstep. She has cultivated home garden with crops of cabbage, spinach and green beans.
“It has not been an easy journey for me. There were times that I wanted to give up but I kept going because of my children. They are the reason behind my success.”
Her husband died in June 2006. The couple had eight children.
All are successful in their chosen career fields. One of them, Ncedisile Breakfast, works for Correctional Services, and there is an electrician, a nurse and a social worker.
Breakfast employs and trains community members and assists them in getting land to empower themselves and pursue farming.
“When I first came to Nxarhuni there were no gardens here. People here didn’t have knowledge on gardening.”
Rural development and agrarian reform agricultural extension officer Yoliswa Matanga, who works closely with Breakfast, said: “She is a pillar of the community. I have been working with Mama Breakfast since 2007. She is an amazing person, always willing to assist.
“She knows everything there is to know about farming. I have also learnt a lot from her!”
Breakfast was a founding member of the Masenze project, which develops local farmers. She also showcases her produce in the annual agricultural show hosted by BCM, and has been awarded numerous trophies by the provincial agriculture department.