• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle

‘Don’t believe the naysayers,’ says Limpopo agripreneur

19th Apr 2021
Pietermaritzburg farmer Andile Ngcobo counted among the thousands of visitors to Nampo. To allow for reduced daily capacity amid Covid-19 restrictions, the expo is held over a period of five days. Under the theme “Experience it”, organisers gave visitors a broad overview of the latest trends, equipment, vehicles and so much more offered to the agriculture sector. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

In pictures: Big toys (and smiles!) at Nampo

19th May 2022
Winter weather is coming, and farmers are advised to stay informed and to prepared as best they could to safeguard their fields and animals. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Weather warning: ‘Be extra cautious for pests, diseases’

19th May 2022
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that Kenya will now be using agricultural land from parastatals and giving it to private companies to prioritise the production of food and cash crops. Photo: Supplied/Unsplash

Kenya to hand over land to private companies

19th May 2022
Sprouts are rich in a number of important nutrients. While the specific ratio of nutrients varies depending on the type of sprout, they generally contain high levels of folate, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin K. Pictured: Ayanda Siphosothando Satula. Photo: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels

Give sprouts a go in the comfort of your home

19th May 2022
The bakers of the non-profit organisation Children of Destiny at Home say their work is severely hampered by steadily rising food prices. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Food export bans are hurting local communities

19th May 2022
Look ... Stripey, green tomatoes with a lotta zing!

Green Zebra: Stripey tomatoes with a lotta zing!

18th May 2022
Podcast: Tips for powdery mildew on tomatoes

Podcast: Tips to tackle powdery mildew on tomatoes

18th May 2022
Driving local food security through research

InnoFoodAfrica project brings food security home

18th May 2022
Drone footage shows a flooded farm in the Free State. Photo: Supplied/Jakkals le Roux

Floods: Climate change ‘scapegoat for govt. failures’

18th May 2022
The Mamphodo Mushasha Begwa Community Property Association (CPA) located in Louis Trichadt and Elim in Limpopo has been crushed by alleged sabotage. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

‘Sabotage’ brings successful land reform farm to its knees

18th May 2022
All you need to know about growing avocados

All you need to know about growing avocados

17th May 2022
Iris Telmaggiers (fright), Sophie Sauir and Leoni Pasja harvesting green peppers from Sauir’s garden. Photo: Siphokazi Mnyobe

Vegetable garden helps Iris cope with son’s death

17th May 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Thu, May 19, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Driving local food security through research

    InnoFoodAfrica project brings food security home

    Iris Telmaggiers (fright), Sophie Sauir and Leoni Pasja harvesting green peppers from Sauir’s garden. Photo: Siphokazi Mnyobe

    Vegetable garden helps Iris cope with son’s death

    Agripreneur 101: Balance is key for this cannabis skincare producer

    Agripreneur 101: Meet a cannabis skincare producer

    Dr Obvious Mapiye, whose studies helped develop new livestock management software. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Dr Mapiye’s driven to help small-scale farmers commercialise

    Paballo Khoza is harvesting lettuce on his 6 000 square metre shade-netted farm in Westonaria Agri-Park. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi

    Sweat, tears and dreadful walks: Khoza finally triumphs

    ‘Dream, then pursue it,’ urges tomato farmer

    Thabo Skhosana an emerging farmer in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal wants to motivate young farmers who wants to study agriculture. Photo: Supplied/ Food For Mzansi

    ‘The future is ours for the taking,’ says young farmer

    Agripreneur: Learn from a cannabis skincare producer

    Agripreneur: Learn from a cannabis skincare producer

    Chairperson Violet Mathusiemang and her deputy chairperson, Themba Dingilizwe, the driving force behind Randfontein’s award-winning farming cooperative called You Reap What You Sow. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi

    Award-winning urban cooperative now aims even higher

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi
Home Changemakers Entrepreneurs

‘Don’t believe the naysayers,’ says Limpopo agripreneur

by Sinesipho Tom
19th Apr 2021
in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Young Farmer
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A

23-year-old Ndivhuwo Budeli only started farming at a later stage in his life because his friend told him that there are opportunities in agriculture his advice to the youth is to pursue agriculture because the opposite is true. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Ndivhuwo Budeli wishes he had ignored the advice of those who believed it couldn’t be done when he wanted to begin farming five years ago. Instead, he abandoned his dream and enrolled for a law degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2016.

The 23-year-old from a Limpopo village called Nzhelele says he studied agricultural studies in his matric year at Dzata Secondary School in 2015. He told his friends that he wanted to pursue agriculture as a career.

“After sharing the news, one of my friends discouraged me and told me that there are no opportunities in agriculture. So, I decided to study law instead.”

Call it fate or redirection, but a year and a half into his studies he could no longer afford to pay for his tuition and accommodation. He dropped out as a result. But, he says, not all hope was lost as his passion for agriculture was still alive.

ADVERTISEMENT
Ndivhuwo Budeli dropped out of law school and decided to pursue his passion for farming instead. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

“After leaving Pretoria, I did a lot of research about agriculture. I actually wanted to venture into chicken farming but since there were no resources for me to start [doing that], I decided to do research about crop farming,” he says.

Many of his friends who he studied agriculture with at high school were already in crop farming. He was fortunate to receive assistance from them to start his own business in 2017.

“I started farming with butternut, maize, tomatoes and sweet potatoes in my backyard, but as time went by, I got a lease agreement on a three-hectare communal farm in my community.”

Unfortunately, his lease agreement was terminated a year later. With no access to land he was forced to prioritise his drip irrigation management enterprise called Seeds of Hope Agri, which he started around the same time as his crop production business.

“My business offers segregation systems and drip irrigation operation services to farmers occupying communal land around my village,” he says.

Although his business is a success, it hasn’t always been easy.

“When I started the company, I experienced a lot of difficulties because I had a lack of resources and a lack of knowledge. I failed a lot of times but that’s where I have learnt a lot. I used to walk around many of the farms here to get some information. I also had to do the physical work and the administrative work,” he says.

When Budeli was still a farmer he grew butternut, maize, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Luckily for him, he had previous experience from running his own farm and managed to conduct research via YouTube and Google.

The obstacles taught him to choose farming because he loves it. “I have learnt that if you want to farm, you must not to do it for money, but do it for passion. If you farm with the intention of getting money, once you fall down you won’t get up.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Another lesson that he has learnt is to invest in himself by acquiring knowledge and skills. That realisation led his company to the next level.

He is also currently a candidate with the Future Farmers Foundation. The foundation is a small, dedicated platform that provides opportunities to young agriculturists, so that they can become successful commercial-scale farm managers or farmers.

ADVERTISEMENT

The foundation also initiates an apprenticeship system that places learners on farms where they gain experience, starting from the bottom and learning a large variety of skills from the most menial tasks to tractor driving, operating milking machines, control of irrigation systems, dairy herd management and leadership skills. 

Budeli shares that he applied to become a candidate of the foundation in 2019 and he is currently waiting for them to place him on a farm. 

He says in the next couple of years he wants to own multiple farms, and he wants to specialise in crop production and livestock farming because both crops and livestock are in demand.

Budeli’s advice to young people

  • “Do not to hesitate to venture into agriculture because there are many opportunities in agriculture.”
  • “If you want to farm you must not farm because you want to make money, but you must farm because you are passionate about farming.”
  • “You must invest in yourselves, because the best investment is self-investment.”

ALSO READ: Farming is his family’s lifesaver, but also his biggest dream

Tags: Dzata Secondary High SchoolFuture Farmers FoundationLimpopoNdivhuwo BudeliNzhelelePretoriaSeeds of Hope AgriUniversity of South Africa
Share196Tweet123Send
Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom is an audience engagement journalist at Food for Mzansi. Before joining the team, she worked in financial and business news at Media24. She has an appetite for news reporting and has written articles for Business Insider, Fin24 and Parent 24. If you could describe Sinesipho in a sentence you would say that she is a small-town girl with big, big dreams.

Related Posts

All you need to know about growing avocados

All you need to know about growing avocados

by Nicole Ludolph
17th May 2022
0

Avos have become very popular to grow - both in the backyards of home gardeners and commercial farmers. If you...

Agri SA is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and address the harms of illegal Sand Mining in Limpopo. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Illegal sand miners threaten farmers, water sources

by Staff Reporter
14th May 2022
0

Major abuses of environmental and mining regulations by illegal sand miners in Limpopo are a serious threat to food and...

Minister Thoko Didiza meeting with Limpopo Premier, Stanley Mathabatha, and some of Limpopo MECs, to find ways to contain and manage the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the province. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Limpopo govt. plugging the holes in its FMD response

by Staff Reporter
29th Apr 2022
0

After a visit from agriculture minister Thoko Didiza to provincial government and traditional leaders, emergency measures to curb foot-and-mouth disease...

The existence of these two systems; large-scale commercial and small-scale farmers remains a sign of injustice and inequity. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Mzansi’s two-part farming system a sign of injustice

by The Conversation
25th Apr 2022
0

The existence of large-scale commercial and small-scale farmers in South Africa remains a contentious issue and even though attempts have...

Sprouts are rich in a number of important nutrients. While the specific ratio of nutrients varies depending on the type of sprout, they generally contain high levels of folate, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin K. Pictured: Ayanda Siphosothando Satula. Photo: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels
Lifestyle

Give sprouts a go in the comfort of your home

by Duncan Masiwa
19th May 2022
0

Sprouts are perfect to grow in the comfort of your own home. These little germinated seeds are often used in...

Read more
The bakers of the non-profit organisation Children of Destiny at Home say their work is severely hampered by steadily rising food prices. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Food export bans are hurting local communities

19th May 2022
Look ... Stripey, green tomatoes with a lotta zing!

Green Zebra: Stripey tomatoes with a lotta zing!

18th May 2022
Podcast: Tips for powdery mildew on tomatoes

Podcast: Tips to tackle powdery mildew on tomatoes

18th May 2022
Driving local food security through research

InnoFoodAfrica project brings food security home

18th May 2022

Podcast: Brace for higher food prices

Agriculture master plan is ‘step in the right direction’

Agripreneur 101: Meet a cannabis skincare producer

Farmers stuck in new chapter of PESI nightmare

This week’s agriculture events: 16 to 20 May 2021

All you need to know about growing avocados

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 11 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

In pictures: Big toys (and smiles!) at Nampo

Weather warning: ‘Be extra cautious for pests, diseases’

Kenya to hand over land to private companies

Give sprouts a go in the comfort of your home

Food export bans are hurting local communities

Green Zebra: Stripey tomatoes with a lotta zing!

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
WhatsApp line: +27 81 889 9032
Marketing: +27 71 147 0388
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version