Three determined and committed young people are paving the way with their poultry business and their eye is firmly set on one target: to create jobs for the youth in the small farming town of Jacobsdal in the Free State. The trio believes that agriculture is the only weapon to take their peers off the streets.
Llewellyn Louw, Shadrack Rakgokong and Jolene Coetzee were all driven by passion two years ago when they started their enterprise, Jacobsdal Trading Pty (Ltd), focusing on poultry farming.
They started with actual farming in 2021 following a year of mentorship from the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).
Louw says that the advantage of all three of them coming with different knowledge and skills was what set them apart from other cooperatives.
“None of knew anything about farming, especially poultry, but we agreed that we would learn and change the lives of the young fellows in our areas.
“Currently we operate with 700 chickens (layers). We sell our eggs in the Free State and the Northern Cape to big and small retailers like Saverite, the community, and the surrounding towns like Koffiefontein, Ritchie, and Thompson,” Louw explains.
Learning the trade
Following his short study in project management where he obtained an N6 certificate, Louw proceeded to work at African Joy farming as an administrator and that is where the love for farming escalated.
Rakgokong and Coetzee, on the other hand, did not finish their schooling because of financial challenges. Rakgokong was studying office administration at Moremogolo Tvet college while Coetzee was studying at Sol Plaatjie University.
“We saw an opportunity that our area needed development and to take young people off the streets and ensure that they had food on their table. We had to be the changemakers and that is where our company started,” Louw says.
“After several discussions, the three of us decided to get into farming, and doors of opportunities have opened.
“We drafted a proposal for poultry farming and we were funded by Pulida Solar Park to kickstart our operations, the South African Development Agency assisted us with mentorship and the National Youth Development Agency assisted us with feed.”
Louw says the main reasons why they started the business was to motivate the youth in the community and be able to encourage them to show interest in the agricultural sector. They have set the example, now they want others to seize their opportunities.
They have only created two permanent jobs so far, but they intend to create many more.
Planning for a better future
Jacobsdal is a small farming town that is rich with various crops such as grapes, potatoes, lucerne, and groundnuts.
“Currently all three of us are working on all levels of the operations, there is no one who is superior to the other. We are motivated by our success and what we have achieved so far,” Louw says.
While the young trio is eager to bring about change to society, they first have to face their own challenges and how the operations will be affected in the future.
“We have challenges with water and feed. The feed is super expensive which means we must cut costs in other areas.
“We also want land, we are currently operating on one-hectare which we bought. However, we want to expand soon, so access to land is important for us,” Louw shares.
They are also looking to expand their operations, which will be crucial in creating jobs.
“We are now busy trying get broilers as well. We also have a vegetable garden that we started one month ago.
“It’s a great experience and one of the most important lessons we learned is when you’re a farmer, you should be patient and do it from the heart.
“We want to urge government to pay attention to young black farmers because they are still new in the sector that need grooming and financial assistance. Only then will job creation be realised,” he says.
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