Banana and macadamia farm acquired for R3m despite economic down-turn
The farm known as the Learning Curve Farm, in Port Edward was formerly owned by Alida Stofberg.
Keletso Pekile, a farmer on the KZN South Coast, has acquired a banana and macadamia farm for a whopping R3m which is uncommon in Port Edward, taking into consideration the value of properties in the area.
The farm known as the Learning Curve Farm, formerly owned by Alida Stofberg was in the news recently, owing to municipal water shortages in the area that led to farmers’ seeing red.
Subsequently, Stofberg entered into a R3m sale agreement with Pekile and his partner Ntokozo Pearl Mbali. In terms of this deal, the farm, its implements, machinery, vehicles, farm land and tractors form part of the sale.
Although properties in Port Edward average around R900 000, Pekile believes that Learning Curve Farm is priced fairly.
“We have a turnaround strategy that we will put in place for the farm to be super productive and we are confident about it,” added Pekile
Furthermore, he stated that 550 extra macadamia trees on the farm are yielding high quality nuts. The average expected yield of nuts is estimated at R1.4m for 2025.
According to Pekile, Stofberg has invested a lot in that farm in terms of inputs and other aspects and must be fairly compensated. Also, he emphasises that the way the sale deal is structured, it would be unfair to ask for less.
Pekile is also a co-founder of an agri-company, KayPea Group Pty Ltd (www.kaypeagroup.com) which started off as an organic farm but has since focused on acquiring existing farms.
However, the Learning Curve Farm is not being acquired by KayPea Group Pty Ltd. According to Pekile, this is being done strategically for a future transaction.
“KayPea Group Pty Ltd aims to acquire bigger agri-companies and the ‘Learning Curve Farm’ was not fitting our target market, hence I opted to approach the owner personally,” said Pekile.
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