FEATURE
Transitioning from subsistence to a smallholder farming business By .Levi Letsoko
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rowing up in an agricultural setting along with years of service accumulated in a corporate finance environment are two of the biggest contributors that influenced Tshepo Kgopa’s transition from a subsistence to a smallholder farming business, according to the P and T Agricultural Projects (trading as TK and Family Livestock) founder. After building a career in the accounting profession at an insurance powerhouse as a project accountant, Kgopa garnered enough courage and expertise to take a gamble and choose between where he felt he belonged (finance world) and his calling, which is farming. “Agriculture is my culture. I grew up in a village where farming was a way of life. My grandparents had cattle and worked the field. I can proudly say that agriculture paid for my education.” Working the land Through the lessons he absorbed from his grandparents, who had no alternative but to work the land to provide for the entire family, Kgopa started developing his own method of running the family farm. He hopes to one day turn it into a comprehensive commercial business with a stronger footing in the food-supply value chain. “I vowed to myself that I was not going to be a subsistence farmer like my grandparents. I am currently a smallholder farmer, my goal is to be a commercial farmer, and I’m well on my way to fulfilling that dream,” says Kgopa. Breaking the barriers Despite the drive, the ambition and the strategy to revolutionise farming and the agricultural supply value chain as a whole, black emerging farmers are still faced with the challenge of access to sufficient land. While most farmers manage to partially overcome this challenge, they also hampered by the lack of funding. “You may have the land but not the capital which is also very important for you to set up infrastructure,” he says. Kgopa believes one way of addressing the land issue is through constant collaboration
10 | September - October 2020
