Rural youth make working the land fashionable

Black youth deep in rural areas of Port Shepstone, in the South Coast region of KwaZulu-Natal, are making agriculture fashionable, and in the process contributing towards food security and growing the rural economy in the job-starved region.

While many young people in KwaZulu-Natal dream of leaving their rural villages for greener pastures and making it big in industrialised cities such as Durban and Johannesburg, a new crop of youth is realising the value of staying put and working the land. With an unemployment rate that stands at 36 per cent in the region, increased productivity and employment opportunities in agriculture have made the sector more attractive to youth.

The turnabout has been helped by the Siyavuna Abalimi Development Centre, a nonprofit organisation empowering small-scale farmers through skills and enterprise development. Its Activating Youth In Agriculture programme assists experienced farmers in

Siyavuna Abalimi continues to seek innovative ways to make the agricultural value chain more attractive to the youth through their annual internship programme.

By BUSI MBOYISA

transferring their skills and knowledge to youth through systematic and structured mentorship. Participants spend two days a week in the field with supervisors and mentors.

“We have trained about 2 000 farmers, both male and female,” says Oxolo Mofokeng, executive director of the centre. “Our project has developed agri-hubs in different community areas.

Through the support of the Social Employment Fund, we employ 1 000 participants, mostly youth, to grow, harvest and sell vegetables to local businesses and bigger markets. We also encourage them to start their own gardens at homes through training and skills development, and guide them through the process of starting their own businesses.”

Mofokeng was recognised by the Mail & Guardian last year as one of South Africa’s 200 Young South Africans for her contribution to youth empowerment on the South Coast. The centre has been helping farmers and gardeners grow food, and develop techniques and skills to boost their production for 14 years already. What makes Siyavuna Abalimi’s model successful is that, with every project they venture into, the organisation first conducts a value chain feasibility study to research the market and find gaps to fill. They currently grow and produce diversified crops including aloe vera, dried vegetables, paprika and amaranth.

Food on the table

Slindile Nxumalo, 28, a young woman from Gcilima, is one of the farmers who have gone on to start their own farming business after receiving training through the centre. She is part of a group of pioneering young farmers in the village who grow bulbine, a plant that produces a jelly-like juice that soothes burns, rashes, blisters, insect bites, cracked lips, acne, cold sores and mouth ulcers.

In addition, Nxumalo is now adept at organic vegetable farming. “Coming from an impoverished background, I have been able to improve my living conditions and support my two babies,” she says.

Using the skills she acquired from the project, Nxumalo has also started her own garden at home, growing vegetables which she plans to sell to locals.

Another programme participant, Khanyisani Danca, adds that she is overjoyed at the skills development she receives. “We are able to do something better with our lives and put food on the table for our families.”

Bearing fruit

Mofokeng notes that through funding from the Industrial Development Corporation, the centre has received infrastructural support and a monthly stipend for a year to help farmers grow their own produce, and do pricing, financials and reports. It also helps them establish their own businesses and compete in bigger markets.

Despite being adversely impacted by the destructive floods that wreaked havoc on the province last year, Mofokeng says the centre was able to bounce back and continue with its mission at various sites in the region. Siyavuna Abalimi continues to seek innovative ways to make the agricultural value chain more attractive to the youth through their annual internship programme, where they take in 10 agriculture graduates from different universities to offer them skills training. Some of their beneficiaries are now permanently employed by government and by different commodities in the agricultural sector.

Nxumalo’s hard work and determination is bearing fruit – she is now a technical advisor for the project. “Currently, I act as a bridge connecting the elderly and the youth. I enjoy working as a technical advisor who liaises with mentors and their proteges. I have a dream that, once I acquire land which is big enough, I will be a self-sustaining farmer,” she concludes.