Lunathi Hlakanyane is no stranger to the Food For Mzansi family, always sharing his expertise as an agricultural economist on the Farmer’s Inside Track podcast. This time he shares his favourite childhood memories, career highlights and a message to his future self.
“Growing up is actually the best part of my life. I grew up in a very small village in the Eastern Cape. I grew up in a very intensive agricultural environment and I was always surrounded by farmers,” he says.
He recalls that growing up, the library was his go-to place and books unlocked an entirely new world of learning about agribusiness.
“The seeds were planted by the books I was reading about business and how to commercialise farms.
“I wanted to play my part in the facilitation of knowledge for myself and into the next generation,” he adds.
He says that he would have preferred to be a foundation phase teacher given all the issues in the country, and then start addressing problems early on.
Career highlights
His biggest desire is to see smallholder farmers commercialise and succeed by adopting the right knowledge to do so. At this point, he is grateful to have the skill set to be able to help others succeed and grow.
“At the moment I am a consultant and I think what I love about that, it kind of allows me to enable others to realise their growth potential. Equipping them with the right tools from a financial perspective.”
Hlakanyane adds that a lot of farmers don’t know the world of data they are sitting on. Especially when it comes to day-to-day activities that can help generate information that can run a successful farming operation sufficiently.
In this episode, Hlakanyane also discusses:
- Future plans; and
- Leaning on tech for better opportunities.
Want to know more? Listen to the full episode of Farmer’s Inside Track.
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Option 3: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
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