The harsh truth of being jobless and pregnant in South Africa is something Akhona Gxuluwe knows all too well. She once imagined herself as a teacher, nurse, journalist, or police officer, but life had written a different script for her – one rooted in rooftop farming.
Gxuluwe completed her matric in 2008, years after her family left Qoqodala in Cacadu, Eastern Cape, and settled in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg.
When she finished matric, the world seemed to collapse around her. From unanswered tertiary education and funding applications to finding work.
“I worked for six months in 2009 after being unemployed for a good three years,” she says. Life would get much harder before she finally found her passion in agriculture.
She now owns Akhona The Farmer Pty (Ltd), a consultancy specialising in organic crop production, hydroponics, small stock, and poultry. In addition, she oversees two farms, one of which is Handpicked CityFarm, among the biggest rooftop farms in the Western Cape.
A journey of grit
Getting here was far from easy. After falling pregnant, Gxuluwe moved back to the Eastern Cape to live with her father in Sterkspruit.
Back among the livestock and gardens, she was reminded of her childhood. Yet this time, it awakened something far more profound, and the atmosphere was exactly what she needed.
“I was given a horse to care for and looked after an orphaned Boer goat kid,” she says.
“I started looking forward to each new day. Between the livestock and the crops, I began to see a future in farming.”
A year after giving birth, she enrolled for a diploma in animal production at Grootfontein Agricultural Institute in Middelburg, Eastern Cape, graduating in 2015 with first-class honours. In 2018, she earned her BTech in agriculture cum laude from the Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein.
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Yet the path wasn’t smooth. She faced another two years of unemployment.
“After two years of being unemployed, I finally got a two-year Casp internship through the department of agriculture in the Western Cape and was placed at Abalimi Bezekhaya.”
At Abalimi Bezekhaya, the focus was mainly on crop production, which made her anxious since her major was small stock production.
“I only studied crop production in my second year, but I was fortunate to work with people like Chumani Jezile, who became my partner in several agricultural projects.”
In 2022, during her internship, she landed a job as farm manager of South Africa’s largest retail rooftop farm called Handpicked CityFarm in Kenilworth Centre.
“I was training interns in hydroponics farming using the African Grower vertical system, growing over 6 000 plants on just 172 square metres of space,” she explains.
A year later, graduate interns from the same Casp internship programme she had been part of joined the project. “I trained three interns to become farm managers while I was promoted to farm production manager at Fresh Life Produce.”
Hydroponics and rooftop farming
At Handpicked CityFarm, they grow over 9 000 plants on 216 square metres. “We supply restaurants like Mugg & Bean and also sell to Newlands locals,” she says.
At the agripreneur training facility at The Nex in Delft, crops are grown for local residents.
“In June, we’ll launch Ndebe Hydroponics, the first hydroponic farm in Butterworth’s Centane area,” she says. There, they plan to supply both supermarkets and the community.
Across her sites, they grow seasonal vegetables like lettuce, spinach, beetroot, peppers, tomatoes, spring onions, and cucumbers.
Gxuluwe says farming and managing different sites come with their own set of challenges. Pests and diseases have been a nightmare, but because she knew that tunnel farming often involves these issues, they’ve been relying on organic and homemade pesticides, which help a lot and save money.
“We mainly use a chilli and garlic mixture to deal with aphids, and one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda helps reduce powdery mildew,” she says.
For anyone thinking about starting in agriculture, she advises against doing it just for the money. “You’ll be discouraged. If you’re passionate, start – and it’s okay to start small.”
As far as she is concerned, access to land shouldn’t hold anyone back.
Gxuluwe’s journey proves that purpose often grows from the most unexpected soil. With resilience as her roots and passion her sunlight, she turned hardship into harvest. Her story is a reminder: grow where you are planted. Even if it’s on a rooftop!
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