For Cynthia Sekgobela, retirement in 2016 introduced a daring new starting. After 21 years as an accountant and tax advisor, she swapped her ledgers for her true interest in farming and began Gung’s Boerdry in Zuurbekom, a 2,5ha farm at the West Rand.
Photograph: Provided
Cynthia Sekgobela, a 67-year-old feminine agripreneur is making a reputation for herself within the farming neighborhood and past.
“My father used to be a business farmer and businessman in Winterveld, north of Pretoria, and when he passed on to the great beyond in 1983, my brother took over. So, farming has at all times been in my blood, and I’m so satisfied I may observe in my circle of relatives’s footsteps as an
natural farmer.”
Working the farm hasn’t at all times been simple, with best two everlasting staff and one part-time employee, restricted assets and doing the whole thing via hand for a number of years.
On the other hand, this modified in 2023 when Cynthia began the usage of a Husqvarna tiller.
This flexible device temporarily delivered advanced potency and has contributed to the farm’s skill to provide 400kg of unpolluted greens every week to the Johannesburg Recent Produce Marketplace, hawkers and the native casual marketplace.
“The tiller made an enormous distinction to our productiveness. It has other attachments that do quite a lot of jobs and it’s easiest for making new beds and planting vegetation. It’s so user-friendly that even I will use it,” she laughs.
Cynthia’s power and fervour are infectious and her adventure has already inspired a number of other people to have a bash at small-scale farming.
She stocks her best 5 suggestions on find out how to get started rising produce and switch it right into a small-scale enterprise.
- City farm lawn: When beginning off, you don’t want a lot house. Transparent a 2m x 2m patch and get started rising your greens in baggage. Take a look at tomatoes, onions and a few herbs. Your soil combine is significant so make sure to purchase the most efficient high quality soil imaginable. And you’ll make your personal compost via the usage of your kitchen waste.
- Flip your produce into benefit: If you have extra greens than your circle of relatives can devour, flip your farm lawn right into a trade. It’s vital to begin modestly and set achievable targets. Being hands-on and affected person and making sensible selections are an important within the preliminary levels of farming. Set lifelike goals and construct a competent community to promote your produce, thereby laying a forged basis for enlargement.
- Presentation is vital: Farmers are within the trade of meals and your consumers ‘devour with their eyes’, so while you pass to marketplace, be certain that your produce appears to be like just right. Provide it in a field or in plastic and pack it into brown paper baggage; you’ll even use labels to support your product enchantment. The similar is going for the desk on which your wares are displayed and what you’re dressed in; while you take note of presentation you construct consider and force gross sales.
- Strategic crop alternatives: It’s vital to face out available on the market so if everyone seems to be rising spinach, develop brinjals or onions. Through exploring high-value merchandise and diversifying produce, you’re going to promote the whole thing you develop at higher costs. This takes some marketplace analysis however you’ll get the grasp of it and begin to thrive within the aggressive farming panorama.
- Ensure that regulatory compliance: As your farm grows, make certain your lets in and bureaucracy are up to the moment as this may open doorways to monetary loans or attainable buyers. The extra capital will let you spend money on very important infrastructure comparable to irrigation programs and kit – either one of which can streamline your operations, build up productiveness and make you extra money.
Cynthia’s trailblazing adventure now not best exemplifies the very important parts for a sustainable farming trade however her tale actively champions and evokes gender equality in agriculture, providing encouragement to different ladies and aspiring agripreneurs.
For more info at the Husqvarna tiller, seek advice from www.husqvarna.com.