Oliver’s Village Agricultural Training College Success Story

Many of our learners have already started putting their newly acquired skills to the test. With the newfound knowledge, inspiration and motivation, Ms Priscilla and 4 of her fellow learners have gone out and actively sought out a piece of land where they could develop a vegetable garden. They approached Madingoane Primary School in Daveyton, where they were granted a space approximately 1 hectare big on the school premises to be used for development. The group of 5 learners aged between 40 & 65 years old, have started their agricultural training with Oliver’s Village in February 2023 and are yet to complete their courses however, have already started making an impact in their community and in the lives of the people around them. They are even more determined and excited to complete all the Skills Development Programmes offered by Oliver’s Village. They have planted vegetable crops such as; spinach, carrots, onion, spring onion, beetroot, melon, red pepper, green beans, maize and potatoes. They currently use watering cans and hosepipes for irrigation, this alone shows the absolute dedication and the love of agriculture these learners have considering how labour intensive this irrigation system is. The crops grown from this garden is used for the school’s soup kitchen and for sale to the local community market. Their 2 year plan is to gain more agricultural knowledge from Oliver’s Village and utilise it to expand their operation by getting more land in order to plant agronomical crops such as soybeans. Oliver’s Village wishes them all the best and can’t wait to see them succeed in their endeavours.