‘To profit from pigs, aim for efficiency and quality’

In the short time since Khulile Mahlalela started farming in 2015, she has already won a number of awards for her piggery business. In 2019, she won two of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s (agriculture department) Female Entrepreneur Awards: the Mpumalanga Female Farmer of the Year Award and the Minister’s Special Award for a Young Farmer.

Mahlalela grew up on a farm in Nkomazi in Mpumalanga where her late grandmother, Rebecca Mkhabela, farmed pigs. At school, Mahlalela dreamt of becoming a geologist, not a farmer. By the time she finished school, however, she had resolved to follow in her