Friday, 29 July 2011

Sokhulu farmer is tops

Chairman of NCT Forestry - Harald Niebuhr presents Sihle Msweli with his trophy

A tree farmer from Sokhulu has won the annual Tree Farmer of the Year award in the Communal Land category. Sihle Msweli was raised by his grandmother and spent most of his school holidays and free time on her 12ha timber land learning all aspects of forestry. This created an interest and passion in timber farming which later paid off when he was allocated 6.38ha of land by his grandmother to pursue his own forestry business. He became a member of NCT in 2004 with full membership status and is very complimentary on the service he receives from the Co-operative. ‘Ongoing NCT workshops have played a big role in my business in terms of acquiring forestry skills and knowledge,’ says Sihle. ‘I am proud to be a member and hope I can make a positive contribution to the organisation.’ In 2008 Sihle resigned from the SA National Defence Force and started to concentrate on his forestry business. He has grown his plantation to 22ha of GxU (Eucalyptus grandis X uraphyla) and employs 16 full-time employees and 10 contractors. He can be commended for his silvicultural techniques and fire protection practices. He is also community driven and is involved in sponsoring his local soccer team with balls and transport and also
provides his community with water at community events. He also assists in curbing crime by strategically placing vehicle and foot patrols in crime ‘hot spots’ in the area.