Agriculture is a business and you can make life out of it
The department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) will assist 28-year-old Yonela Ndzoboyi with a borehole for irrigation purposes where he plants different kinds of vegetables, MEC Nomakhosana Meth announced.
She was speaking during a visit to the Lencolin Green Project in Ludeke Village in Bizana,“inspired and impressed” by work done by Ndzoboyi an agriculture graduate who “chose doing business instead of seeking employment.”
“We are proud to have people of this caliber, who are focused and have vision to develop others. I am inspired and impressed about how this young man is showing his love for agriculture hence the department will assist by drilling a borehole so that the good work can continue.
“We want to create a generation of farmers and Yonela has showed us that, that is possible,” said Meth.
The visit and the event at Ludeke forms part of the Provincial government’s celebration of the birth of the late political activist Tata Oliver Tambo, who attended his primary school in Ludeke.
Ndzoboyi, an Agriculture Management graduate, says he was “inspired by my late father. I say I was raised to become a farmer, as everyone in this village knew how I used to hold a plough from young age when we using cattle to plant.
“I started this initiative from the funds I saved from the stipend I received when I was doing my in-service training. I was offered a job to manage a farm in Pretoria but I chose to do my own business instead of making someone else a millionare,” said the spirited young person.
He told the farmers and the community members attending the event that the industry “needs someone who does research, willing to share ideas and be exposed in good agricultural practices.”
After telling the MEC that he used to use his father’s cattle to prepare land before plant, she said “you are leaving example that its laziness that make people not venture into things because of the condition they are faced with.”
The project markets and sells its produce to hawkers, Boxer Store in Bizana and the community. The department assisted with mechanization, planting inputs and pesticides.
“All I can say about this department is that, I appreciate what it has done for me since I started in 2007. I also preach that ‘agriculture is a business and you can make life out of it.”
Development in the project includes planting of potatoes in 5ha of land in a partnership with Potato SA, this has been facilitated by DRDAR.