Young farmer shows all her fingers are green
SOUTH African youths have earned a place for themselves within the farming sector, which is typically saturated by men over the age of 60. Many have proven that farming no longer needs to be a field dominated by older men..
Take Njabulo Mbokane, a 24-yearold who has ploughed a future for herself in farming. Njabulo is a testament to the fact that, with the right agronomic and market support, youth have every potential to be successful in the agricultural sector and challenge the status quo.
Njabulo discovered her passion for agriculture while tending to her parents’ backyard vegetable garden. Today, she is an award-winning farmer operating on a 26 hectare plot of land.
Njabulo turned her passion into a business and attributes her career breakthrough to an intervention supported by The South African Breweries (SAB) in conjunction with Farmsol, SAB’S implementation partner.
The success of Njabulo’s business was ignited when she became a participant in SAB’S Farmer Development Programme. This programme supports over 520 emerging farmers.
The programme provides patient funding for AGRI-SMMES for production, access to modern production inputs, route to formal markets via an agreement with SAB, agronomic extension support through technical experts that provide training and mentorship, agronomic and business training for skill development through classroom and field-based training.
Njabulo started off with no capital, no assets and no agricultural background, so the path was not always easy.
Njabulo said her participation in the programme had a significant impact on her business. She overcame her biggest challenges and achieved the 2019 Sab-farmsol Young Emerging Farmer of the Year Award.
“One of the hardest challenges I encounter is being young, black and female. Transformation is moving at a slow pace. The face of the industry has always been male, so amid everything else, I want to change perceptions about women in agriculture,” she said.
Aron Kole, Managing Director of Farmsol, described Njabulo as a farmer with a desire to learn and grow.
“Njabulo should be seen as a beacon of hope for any young person with aspirations of becoming a farmer. She has been awarded the title of Farmsol’s Youth Ambassador, encouraging young people to take up farming as a viable career”, said Kole.