The exuberant Sewagodimo Mthethwa grew up with her family being subsistence farmers, but she never thought her love for farming would be revived after the birth of her child. Today she owns three hectares of land and plans to own more. Mthethwa is one of the inspiring women who was selected for the Corteva Women Agripreneur 2022, a year-long blended development programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Entrepreneurship Development Academy (EDA).
Born and bred in Pietermaritzburg, Mthethwa has always been a forward thinker and family oriented. After she matriculated in 1999, she obtained phenomenal grades to pursue her tertiary education at the University of Pretoria.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding in her first year and her father’s passing, Mthethwa had to make a difficult decision to quit her studies. At that point in time, it was only Mthethwa’s grandparents and uncle that could support the family.
“I came back [home] after my first year and still had a few subjects outstanding. My father had recently passed away and I decided to go look for work,” says Mthethwa.
Several avenues explored
She worked in various sectors such as the transport sector, national educational sector, and even real estate.
“I got my first job in government, and I worked my way up from there. I seek opportunities and things that interest me all the time,” she adds.
In 2006 she met her husband. After they got married and fell pregnant, Mthethwa had some complications with her pregnancy and decided to quit her job in 2007.
“When I fell pregnant with my first child, I decided to quit because of health complications. I spent about a year or so at home and then we bought some land. We built our first home on that land.”
A love for farming resurfaces
She decided to grow vegetables as a subsistence farmer, and farming soon became second nature to Mthethwa.
“Instead of planting grass. I decided to do a veg garden. I grew up with my grandparents in a home where we used to plant throughout the year,” she says.
Even though this was mandatory in their household as a young girl growing up, Mthethwa was not particularly interested in growing vegetables. It all changed when she had her firstborn.
Building on the unknown
In 2009 she started growing chillies. Mthethwa did not sell it as a business, it just brought her true joy to be able to plant and see the chilli plants grow.
“My agricultural journey started off with subsistence, and just that interest – the love for the soil, land, seeing and growing my own produce – made sense to me,” she says.
But that’s not all, a neighbouring farmer decided to give her 300 chickens. The neighbours started boiler production and were training people and decided to share their knowledge and resources.
“The entrepreneur in me kicked in. I decided to take the chickens not knowing anything. I was even scared to hold them.”
Mthethwa built a shed behind her house and kept the 300 chickens and sold them.
“That’s when I became an agripreneur. I had to find a market for these chickens. I just decided to go to high schools and primary schools in the area including hospitals, because I could not keep them for a long time.”
In 2015-2016 Mthethwa and her husband bought three hectares of land with the idea to develop the land for the property. However, the authorisation process took forever. She then asked permission to use the land for farming, and she continued her journey with the chickens.
Mthethwa says that it has been profitable, even though it is currently the short-term plan. There are plans in the pipeline to get more land for farming.
Challenges in finding a market
One of the biggest challenges for Mthethwa is the market, and her biggest desire is to find a stable market to be able to sell the produce. Being a new farmer, it is difficult to convince corporate companies to invest in farmers starting to commercialise.
“It’s difficult when you start growing at a larger scale to get contracts. You’re not able to command a price, you become a price taker. It’s difficult as a growing farmer.”
She adds that this entire journey has been a learning experience for the better and she won’t give up on finding the perfect market for her produce.
Corteva programme revived her passion
The Corteva programme revived her love and passion for farming, and it has also expanded her knowledge. But the best part for Mthethwa is making new contacts. To her, it is such an amazing experience to be acknowledged.
“When you are working and doing something and it’s not recognised by the people, and you look at all the big commercial farmers, you don’t even want to call yourself a farmer. But when I got to engage with other women from the programme, that’s when I regarded myself as an agripreneur,” says Mthethwa.
Reflecting on the programme made her realise that she has done a lot and is proud of the work she has done and will continue to do, “You don’t see yourself as a small fish anymore, the programme truly allows you to grow.”
ALSO READ: High-flying #SoilSista Ndlovu is ready to go big
Get Stories of Change: Inspirational stories from the people that feed Mzansi.
