For Thembisa Mthembu, the path to agricultural success was rarely a straight line but always rooted in dedication. As a seasoned agripreneur, she has seamlessly merged years of hands-on dairy expertise with commercial crop farming, building an enterprise founded on sheer grit and a lifelong passion for food production.
Mthembu’s relationship with the land began early in life. Growing up in uMzimkhulu, KwaZulu-Natal, the natural rhythms of subsistence farming dictated her days.
Before heading to Samaria School, where she completed her primary and early secondary education from grades 1 to 9, her mornings were filled with essential farm chores.
“Every morning before I went to school, my father would tell me to do chores of milking the cows, feeding the dogs, feeding the chickens, including sheep and goats, and also letting them out once we were done, then get ready for school afterwards.”
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Nurturing a connection with livestock
This daily contact with livestock sparked a profound connection. Recognising her deep attachment to the animals, Mthembu shared her dream of working with livestock with her father, Thokozani, and her late mother, Thembeka.
A family friend noticed this passion and invited Mthembu to an information session at Zakhe Agricultural High School. She attended the session, passed the rigorous enrolment interview, and spent grades 10 through 12 immersed in daily practical farming.
It was here that her specific calling became crystal clear. “There it was practical every day; that’s where I realised that my major would be dairy production. Hence, I liked the way we would release the pressure from the udders of a cow,” she says.
Driven to solidify her practical knowledge with academic backing, Mthembu enrolled at Nelson Mandela University (NMU), where she obtained a diploma in agricultural management, specialising heavily in dairy production. She balanced her studies by working directly on a dairy farm for her practical modules.
Gaining global experience
Upon graduating, she started working on various dairy farms to sharpen her skills in farm management, budgeting, labour coordination, and detailed record-keeping.
Eager to expand her horizons globally, Mthembu applied to the Future Farmers programme. Her acceptance took her across the ocean to Australia, where she spent three years soaking up international agricultural practices and broadening her industry knowledge.
When she returned to South Africa, she was fully prepared to launch her own commercial dairy venture. However, fate steered her in a different direction. In 2017, after her former dairy employer closed down operations to open a factory, Mthembu pivoted.
She approached her father to request the use of their family land and stepped into the world of crop production. Utilising the capital she had carefully saved while working on farms and overseas, she bought fencing materials, inputs, and second-hand machinery and implements from a former employer to jump-start her business.
Cultivating, serving, and learning
Mthembu established her operations on a total of 5.5 hectares of family land, splitting the layout by dedicating two hectares to vegetables like spinach and cabbage and allocating the remaining portion to maize, while also rearing calves.
The early years of full-time farming proved highly rewarding, allowing her to invest in infrastructure that many small-scale farmers struggle to acquire.
“My greatest achievement was buying major equipment while I was farming full-time, including a boom sprayer, tractor, trailers, and a maize planter.”
Her enterprise also became an economic lifeline for the area, growing to employ five permanent staff members and up to 10 seasonal workers during peak planting and harvesting periods.
When the dryland crops are harvested and the fields lie bare, Mthembu continues to serve her community by utilising her implements to haul and deliver water to residents in need.
However, running an independent agricultural business comes with severe macroeconomic hurdles. Facing rising production costs, unpredictable climate shifts, and a shortage of skilled labour, Mthembu made a strategic business decision to temporarily step back and rebuild her financial reserves.
Today, she works full-time as a farm manager on a dairy farm in KwaZulu-Natal, channelling her salary directly back into her entrepreneurial goals.
In her absence, her trusted right-hand man, Simbongile Mantame, alongside her dedicated workers, handles the daily logistics of the home farm. They ensure that fresh produce continues to be harvested and delivered to local shops and major supermarkets, including local branches of Boxer and Spar.
Building the future
Through everything, Mthembu carries invaluable wisdom gleaned from her time in the fields.
“What I learnt from my dairy production experience is that if you care for your investment, it will care for you,” she reflects. “If you nurture your animals or plants, they will give you good produce.”
Looking ahead, Mthembu’s determination is unwavering. She is actively working to secure an additional 20 hectares of land from her local community to scale her operations upon her full-time return.
Her ultimate goal remains to re-establish her business at maximum capacity, create sustainable employment, and maintain a reliable, constant supply of fresh produce for commercial markets.
To navigate this evolving agricultural landscape, she emphasises that modern farming requires a precise blend of technical know-how and strong industry networks.
“Anyone can do farming, but it’s a lot of hard work because things have changed. You must have skills, and once you have the skills, use them to start a business. Most importantly, have a mentor and build relationships with other farmers.”
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