One of the young farmers from the OR Tambo District Municipality in Mthatha, Siphesihle Kwetana (27), hosted a farmers’ information day last week, with the aim of uplifting the standard of small farmers in this industry.
Kwetana is the founder and director of Siphe Development and Capacitation Agency (SDCA).
She said that when she started ploughing in 2015, her intention was to make some money to take care of her family.
Kwetana said she never thought that it would lead to something big enough that she could create job opportunities for other people.
“We are doing many things here like selling seedlings, starting a piggery, ploughing different vegetables and I also running a butchery.
“I have 17 employees so far and I have eight students who are doing in-service training,” said Kwetana.
She encouraged farmers, stating that they should know that there are lot of challenges in farming, but that does not mean they should give up.
Kwetana added that some of the challenges they have are that they do not get funding in order to grow their businesses.
“Another challenge is the issue of the tractor whereby you have to book and wait for three weeks before getting it. As farmers, we are struggling.”
She said if they could get funding, things could be much better. At the moment, Kwetana is ploughing six hectares.
