Bongani Ntombela headed off to the University of Reading in the UK last month to start his master’s degree in food security and development. Ntombela is a passionate advocate for food security in Africa, and recently started the Africa Centre for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems (ACSAFS), an organisation dedicated to empowering small-scale farmers.
For Ntombela, establishing a career in agriculture was an obvious choice. He grew up in a rural farming community in KwaZulu-Natal called kwaNongoma, and had learned to farm from a very young age.
“The main economic activities that used to happen there were subsistence farming. Growing up, [we knew] that in summer, [we] were planting maize. When the winter season came, we were planting vegetables like spinach or cabbage and so on. It was part of our lifestyle. It was a normal ritual.”
Ntombela obtained his bachelor’s degree in science at the University of Zululand, as well as a master’s degree in agriculture from Stellenbosch University, where he specialised in agronomy.
Soon after completing his master’s degree, he worked as a research intern at a large farming enterprise. It was while he was attending a conference for this company, that he came across the work that the large retail group Spar was doing in rural communities in the country.
“So the Spar Rural Hubs programme helps small-scale farmers to supply their produce to local Spar shops. It’s a concentrated programme, and was started in Limpopo, in the Mopani district, where it is doing very well.”
The programme seemed to be exactly what Ntombela was looking for. As someone who hails from a rural community, his desire to plough back was strong. “I’ve always wanted to go back and contribute to my community. I have to contribute in transforming the agricultural sector [with] whatever knowledge I have. I had to go back and help small-scale farmers who have minimum resources or no resources at all, to have access to advanced agricultural advisory [services] or agricultural information.”
Ntombela landed the internship with the group in 2019. That position is what pushed him into the food security sector, and ultimately into applying for the Chevening Scholarship.
Food For Mzansi chatted to him about this journey, as well as his current work.
How did your work at a large retail group influence your current work?
I was working for Spar as an agricultural advisor intern under the Spar Rural Hubs programme. I was exposed to many aspects of the food value chain, especially the value chain carbon footprint, food waste and the sustainable sourcing of palm oil.
I [also] got involved in [other] projects: collecting data from Spar shops on how they were collecting their food waste, and how they were recording their food waste as part of the Spar sustainability goals. That influenced me to look at agriculture broadly, not just as agriculture where you farm [but] at the whole food value chain. I became more passionate about food security and I wanted to learn more. That’s why I applied for an MSc in food security at the University of Reading.
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You started an organisation called Africa Centre for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems (ACSAFS) in 2020. Tell us more.
It is still at its initial stage but our main aim is to work with local farmers [and] local organisations, to help [them] play a role in food security; to be able to serve their community.
I believe in a diversified agricultural system where you have commercial farmers playing their role, but also the small-scale farmers playing their role at a local level. People have to be able to get access to food at their local level and stimulate local economies and get fruit while it’s still fresh.
You [shouldn’t] have to have the food transported to Durban and then come back to be sold in the supermarket in Nongoma. So we try to break that unsustainable chain. [We want] for people to support the local food systems; for people to produce and supply to their local shops or for people to buy directly and to get the fresh and nutritional food at a local level.
We have helped some farmers [with the] PESI voucher programme that was run by the department of agriculture as part of the presidential stimulus package to help farmers who were affected by Covid-19. We were able to assist some farmers to apply for that grant, to give them advice, to help trace how their applications were going, and to make sure that they get the required input and so on.
We see that you are also a YALI alumnus.
The YALI programme is the brainchild of the United States government, under the Secretary of State. YALI stands for Young African Leaders Initiative. They offer workshop training and are also part of the Mandela Washington scholarship or fellowship [programme] for young people who want to go to the UK and spend some time there.
They have short courses or training programmes that they provide yearly. There are many different disciplines. [Some] choose public management, others choose different sectors, but I chose the course on civil society or civic leadership because that’s where I am currently, trying to grow Access [ACSAFS].
So, getting proper training on civic leadership was very important for me. It’s been very helpful. I started the programme in April this year and we finished around May. It was just two months.
This [year’s programme] was for Southern Africa, so it was young leaders from all over the SADC region. [I wanted] to see what the other young leaders in the civil society space are experiencing in their countries. [We were] creating long-term networks which is very important for me as I’m … looking at long-term projects, [and] the long-term vision of Access. [We want to] expand to the rest of the African continent. [YALI] gave me a solid foundation to network with other young, like-minded African leaders.
The Chevening Scholarship is a prestigious award. Presidents, politicians and top businesspeople have all been recipients of the scholarship. How did it feel to win it?
The Chevening Scholarship is one of those scholarships placing future leaders. [Recipients] have a promising prospect for leadership and influencing their communities for positive change. Most of the issues around the world will be addressed through collaborations, through multilateralism, through those channels where we can share notes and influence each other, network and benchmark what other countries or our neighbouring countries are doing. That’s what the Chevening Scholarship is about.
Talking about the use of different technologies to improve food production, how that affects local communities based on the global experiences [while being here] – you cannot learn that through just reading news. You have to engage people at their level, wherever they are.
The Chevening Scholarship is at that level. [It is] trying to get people to engage at that level and [having them] learn from each other – and hopefully make a better world for us and our children.
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