Just a few years ago, Tumelo Tshwagong never imagined herself leading a piggery and cattle business. Today, alongside her husband and daughter, she’s building generational wealth, with a mission to empower women, fight hunger and unemployment.
The Tshwagong family – Tumelo, husband Richard, and daughter Monthati – are first-generation farmers operating under their family business name, Tshwagong Farm. Much of what they know today, they have had to learn along the way.
Based in the Bojanala region of North West, their journey into agriculture started modestly, with five cattle kept at a friend’s property. However, things turned after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We decided that maybe it’s time we find our own place just to house our cattle. Just for our own consumption to have when we have weddings or funerals. That’s how it really started, ” Tshwagong shares.
This decision would later turn out to be crucial to their expansion. “We had to learn a lot. We bought the farm out of our own savings. It was 149 hectares, and at the time, we only had five cattle.”
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Focusing on livestock production
The Tshwagongs are building a solid Brahman herd, currently sitting at 30 cattle. They’re still in the breeding phase, selling young bulls at auctions while retaining heifers to expand the herd.
With a strong entrepreneurial background and a qualification in business management, Tshwagong is always thinking about ways to increase revenue streams. This led to investing in piggery production in 2023, which is now their main revenue stream. Starting with just four sows and one boar, they’ve grown 25 pigs.
“It has been quite a challenge, especially penetrating the market with the piggery. We’ve managed to build our clientele, and we supply mainly local butchers.”
Tumelo Tshwagong
In addition to supplying local butchers, she processes pork herself and sells it to individual households. Although the cost of animal feed continues to pose a significant challenge, they remain committed to producing high-quality pork.
Looking ahead, she aims to expand the business through value addition and is currently undergoing food safety training to enable full-scale processing on the farm.
Indigenous crops and climate resilience
Tshwagong Farm also cultivates African indigenous vegetables. With 149 hectares of land, most of it still underutilised, they’re now turning to climate-smart solutions.
“As a new strategy, we have decided as a business to venture into African indigenous farming. We are going to look into all the traditional vegetables, and we intend not to use any chemicals. We intend to plant as clean, as naturally as possible.”
She works at African Marmalade, owned by farmer and mentor Siphiwe Sithole, who supplies indigenous seeds and links her to a network of buyers, including chefs and researchers. “There is already an uptake. We just have to finalise our agreement,” Tshwagong shares.
As a woman at the helm of the farm, she believes her role allows her to make a meaningful difference in both her community and the country.
“For me as a woman, it means being in a position to have an impact in our community and in our country, especially with the food insecurity that we are facing, the unemployment. Being there for other women farmers is something very close to my heart. Something that I hold dearly,” she explains
The turn towards indigenous food was partly inspired by concern over children’s health. “How can we be part of losing children through food, something that we can have control over?”
She dreams of expanding the farm into a hub for agritourism, featuring farm days, culinary showcases of traditional meals, and much more.
Future-focused despite setbacks
Like many small-scale farmers, Tshwagong has faced major challenges, from a lack of funding and inaccessible local abattoirs to the high costs of regulatory compliance needed to access support.
To navigate the challenges she faces, Tshwagong actively participates in a range of partnerships and mentorship programmes that support her growth as both a farmer and entrepreneur.
A key collaboration is with African Marmalade, a leading custodian of indigenous food in South Africa, through which she accesses indigenous seeds and receives mentorship in growing and marketing traditional vegetables. “Dikgang Molebatsi is also very involved, he is a qualified agronomist who advises us on soil health and provides planting guides,” she shares.
She is also part of the North West Women in Agriculture programme, launched by the provincial government to empower female farmers, and belongs to a social farming association that connects her to markets through chefs, researchers, and institutions focused on indigenous produce.
In addition, she recently graduated from the Graca Machel Trust’s Women Creating Wealth cohort and completed training with a pan-African organisation specialising in climate-smart agriculture. She is part of the Basadi Programme, supported by Standard Bank, which equips women in agriculture with tools to grow and sustain their businesses.
“Some of the things that also keep me going are knowing that you are not alone, having mentors and coaches who encourage you and keep us on our toes.
“They help in managing the farms, getting your books ready, getting your things in place, so should there be a need in the future, you’re prepared.”
Despite the setbacks, Tshwagong Farm remains future-focused while being deeply committed to reviving pride in African cuisine.
Tshwagong encourages aspiring women farmers not to give up. “The first step is to start, and once you have started, it’s a road worth taking. If you are driven by passion and hard work… It’s worth it,” she says.
She urges women to reclaim their gardens. “So many gardens in the villages are empty. People are not planting anymore. This is where we need to focus now so that the kids don’t have to go to bed without food on the table.”
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