Dalikhaya Rain Zihlangu is a farmer from a small village in the agricultural heartland of Tseshe in the Eastern Cape. It took several crossroads for Dalikhaya Rain to return home and pursue farming, his true calling.
“I was born and raised here in a small village called Tseshe, under the district of Nqamakwe, which is in the Eastern Cape Province,” says Dalikhaya.
Dalikhaya’s father and grandfather were born here, and his great-grandfather’s roots are where it all started in 1890. Dalikhaya grew up only knowing one tractor brand, and that was a Massey Ferguson.
“Where I live is the best part of the Eastern Cape region. Here, you can farm sheep, you can grow crops and there is a large dam that supplies us with water. There is plenty of land for farming purposes and that is what I like the most about this area,” he proudly states.
“When I grew up here, there was only one tractor, a Massey Ferguson, and that is where my love for Massey Ferguson began. It was the brand that I grew up with and it will be the brand for generations to come,” he says.
Dalikhaya adds: “In previous years, we used oxen to prepare and plant the lands. During that time poverty was on the rise in this village. There was only one car and one tractor in the entire village. I still remember it like yesterday, as kids, whenever we saw the tractor, we would run behind it and follow it from one field to the other, until it completed all the tasks.”