Cape Town - When countless job applications came back unsuccessful, 29-year-old Siphosihle Maseko from Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape decided to change his own fate by taking on a job as a taxi driver to raise funds to start farming his own crops.
One year later, and he is yielding up to 15 000 cabbages a month, supplying formal and informal markets.
“I didn’t want to be a farmer; I wanted to be a forensic pathologist, but due to my marks I was not admitted at Wits. Then my gran advised me to try agriculture and I applied at Nelson Mandela University, George campus, and got accepted.
As part of my experiential learning to complete my agricultural management diploma I worked as a supervisor at a place called Rance Rural Development. They were growing bell peppers and peppadews and that’s where the passion began.
There I was also exposed to other vegetables like cabbages and maize. Working there every day, I began to love it.”
After he completed his qualification in January 2020, Maseko started applying for work but it was one rejection after another.
At around June that year he started farming with his uncle, who gave him something small when it was harvest time. “I still applied for jobs but had no luck with that, then my uncle had to stop farming because it was not working out and petrol costs were becoming too expensive.
I then got an opportunity to be a taxi driver, so I took it and I started saving. I would take on club trips at night and save all that money.
“We have land under irrigation but it was not being used at the time. After I raised about R18 000 I bought seed fertiliser, hired a tractor, paid labour and bought chemicals to spray for weeds. In September 2021, I started with green mealies. Now I also have cabbage and I’m starting with butternut. I sell about 10 000 to 15 000 cabbages a month and I employ about 12 people a hectare for weeding.”
When he was ready to go to market, he approached local retailers, asked them what vegetables they bought from farms and if he could grow them a sample – the rest is history. Maseko also sells in bulk to local hawkers.
“It’s been just over a year now, it’s been a bit tough, I’ve faced many challenges, I was affected by a hail storm, my mealies recovered but almost ran at a loss because the quality was not that good. Last year in March we had a locust outbreak, it hasn’t been easy but you fight.
“People think farming is just putting something in the soil and getting your money back. They don’t know it needs your attention, your brains. It’s an everyday job. The hardest part of farming is that you have to have hope.
You can lose or you can win.”
Maseko encouraged young people who may feel despondent to never give up.
“In farming I found myself,” he said. In the future Maseko hopes to grow his business to export his produce.
Cape Times