In a new Farmer Mentor podcast series on Farmer’s Inside Track, Kobela Mokgohloa, an innovative cucumber farmer, shares how he embraces modern agriculture and carved himself out a niche market in farming and processing cucumbers into juice.
Kobela Mokgohloa, the owner of Korema Farm in Winterveldt near Pretoria in Gauteng, is an experienced cucumber farmer. He has made a conscious choice to break away from traditional methods and enthusiastically embraces the evolving landscape of agriculture with a forward-thinking mindset.
He cultivates cucumbers on five hectares of covered land. Each tunnel accommodates approximately 600 plants, and under optimal conditions, it is expected to produce around 12 000 cucumbers in a five-month cycle.
“My goal is to produce at least 25 cucumbers per plant because it is possible,” he shares in an interview with Food For Mzansi.
The company presently supplies three prominent fresh produce markets, namely Joburg Fresh Produce Market, Springs Fresh Produce Market, and Tshwane Fresh Produce Market.
They also process cucumbers into juice as a way to enhance the farm’s output. It took them six years to achieve the perfect blend while maintaining the freshness of the juice. Today, they provide health-conscious consumers with clean products free from preservatives.
Embracing cucumbers
As a third-generation farmer, Mokgohloa took over the farm from his father after working in corporate for several years. He is named after his grandfather, who bought the land in 1969 to farm cattle, all while simultaneously running a shop in Winterveldt.
“The farm was then passed on to me and I now work with my sister. We’ve gone through trying different crops, delving into livestock but we have settled with crops, particularly cucumbers.”
Farming cucumbers, he admits, was not by choice. They initially focused on tomatoes and peppers. After his tomato seedling supplier experienced a bad year with germination, he was introduced to cucumbers as an alternative.
“Fortunately the prices for cucumbers were relatively good. The following year prices on the market dropped ridiculously low and I sort of regretted it.”
But they soldiered on with the hope that things would get better. And it did.
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Soil-free growth wisdom
Mokgohloa does not grow his cucumbers in the soil because he wants to grow cucumbers all the time. They grow in a medium, particularly woodshavings. This allows them to take a crop into the market and out of the market as quickly as possible without having to worry about tilling the soil.
“The growing medium works best for us. We don’t have to worry about fertility, we are constantly feeding fertiliser into the system. Farmers who plant into the soil have different challenges compared to us,” he explains.
Part of Mokgohloa’s success can be attributed to his skill in selecting the appropriate cucumber varieties.
“The basics of choosing a particular variety include climate and access to water. Some varieties prefer more water than others. Then there’s the sizing of cucumber, medium or large.”
Some new varieties entering the market show promising performance. Mokgohloa believes that the farmer’s ability to handle cucumbers skilfully allows them to explore more technical varieties.
Knowledge and comprehension are key
Experience plays a big role in the variety one chooses, he says.
“[Also] many farmers make the mistake that cucumbers need a lot of water, so they over irrigate and the plant dies.”
Overall, he adds, understanding the crop is crucial, Adjust irrigation based on needs, constantly adapting pruning techniques for the rapidly growing cucumber.
“You need to understand the crop relatively well, Mokgohloa believes. He advises farmers to know when to over-irrigate and when to irrigate. Farmers should also be aware of constantly adjusting how to prune the plant because the cucumber grows very fast.
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Want to know more? Listen to the full episode of Farmer’s Inside Track.
Discover the journey of Mokgohloa, an innovative cucumber farmer, on the Farmer’s Inside Track Mentor Farmer podcast series. Learn more about his experiences, challenges, and success in embracing modern agricultural practices.
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Option 3: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
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