01 Aug 2016

Chantelle Minnaar is living proof that one can be small and still be a giant. At 33, the pint sized Pandamatenga resident does not pride herself only in being a farmer's wife, but in being a hands-on farmer too in her own right.

Not only does she import and sell the latest and by and large, the biggest farm machinery to local farmers in Pandamatenga, she also comfortably operates them and is hands-on in ploughing her 1000 hectare field she shares with her husband.

“These machines never intimidate me because I have been operating some of them since I was 14 helping my parents plough their farm,” she says of her enormous Case IH combine harvester.

Having been at it now for twenty years now, Minnaar explains that operating such machinery is not as complicated as it seems.

“These modern machines have GPS and have auto-drive so you do not really need to do much except operate the GPS, plus they are air conditioned so they are comfortable,” she adds.

Her mother also operates the same machinery to get work done around the farm. 

“Growing up, everyone played a role around the farm irrespective of gender so operating these machines is very normal for me,” she notes. 

Having come from a farming background, Chantelle has also passed on her skills to her 4-year old daughter who has her own pink toy tractor.

 “She loves to be in the big tractor with me the whole day when it is planting season,  however I want her to have the liberty to choose if she wants to pursue farming like I did or not, I do not impose,” she adds.

Through her company, Petrichor, Minnaar buys farming equipment from the United States to sell to farmers in the Southern African region including Panda. 

But being a woman and young in what is traditionally a male dominated field comes with its own challenges. 

“I have had to prove myself that I can deliver for people to take me seriously,” she explains.

Chantelle challenges the belief that farming and machinery is a man's field by stating that it is women in Africa who are out there in the fields producing food to feed their families. “For this reason, there is no excuse why women cannot operate tractors and any farm machinery,” she notes. A normal day for her during planting season starts at sunrise and ends after sunset, with no specific times. 

“You cannot put hours to farming, it is more than just time, it's a lifestyle,” she notes. One of the biggest challenges she notes with farming is the unpredictability of the weather. 

“I have been farming since 1996 and I can tell you that every year is quite different so there is no schedule you can work, you just have to work with nature,” she adds.

Minnaar was one of the exhibitors at this year's Chobe agriculture show which was held under the theme Unity and technology of Chobe: filling the Botswana food baske. ENDS