Nqaba Mfaxa has a deep-rooted passion for agriculture that dates back to his childhood. With a growing influence on social media platforms like LinkedIn, this junior production manager shares his agricultural insights with over 8 000 followers.
Mfaxa is quickly becoming a voice of inspiration for young farmers through the power of social media.
“It’s a very good platform to share your experience and knowledge in the farming environment so that some other people can recognise you or some other big companies can be able to recognise you and be able to see your passion,” he says.
“I’ve always been made aware of how powerful social media can be.”
Mfaxa works as a junior production manager at Saratoga Fruit Estate. Originally from Centane in the Eastern Cape, he is now building his career in Robertson, Western Cape.
He discusses his involvement in creating opportunities for others through WhatsApp groups sharing agricultural job openings, government support programmes, and training opportunities.
“Sometimes I get texts from the people who are in the groups, and they let me know how useful the groups are to them and how some of them have gotten opportunities,” he says.
Agriculture takes root
Mfaxa enrolled at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, where he completed a diploma in agricultural management, specialising in plant production. He later began studying for an advanced diploma while balancing his work life but paused his studies due to the demanding workload.
“I’ve majored in plant production during my studies at university… I think I will then continue maybe next year if I can see that I still do have time. The journey is still ongoing. I’m still pushing for now,” he shares.
Reflecting on his early beginnings, Mfaxa says his journey in farming started with helping his father cultivate vegetables.
“When I was young, we were actually planting some veggies: butternuts, cabbages, spinach. From planting, then [we would] do all the irrigation, the fertilisation, pest control, and everything that revolves around the production system of the vegetables. That’s where the passion actually began.”
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His childhood experiences in his family’s large gardens laid the foundation for what would become his career. As his passion for agriculture grew, Mfaxa often spent holidays visiting his brother, who manages one of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) farms in the Western Cape. These visits further ignited his love for farming and solidified his decision to pursue formal education in agriculture.
“So, on my holidays in high school and university as well, I would visit him on the farm. That’s where the passion actually grew. I took the decision to further my studies in agriculture,” he says.
Life as a junior production manager
Mfaxa finds his current role as junior production manager both challenging and rewarding. This role allows him to manage various aspects of farming, including pest control, irrigation, quality control, and more.
His flexibility and broad management responsibilities have helped him grow as a professional. However, he acknowledges that the fear of unemployment remains a major challenge for many young agricultural graduates in South Africa.
“I think the biggest challenge I’ve had in my career, I think, would be the fear of not having a job. I’ve seen, as much as agriculture is growing, introducing young guns, there are opportunities coming along.
“But at the same time, we can’t run away from the fact that there are few graduates; in fact, a lot of graduates who are sitting back at home with their agricultural qualifications.”
He expresses gratitude for securing a permanent position after working seasonal contracts, a common situation in the agricultural sector.
Looking ahead, Mfaxa has big plans. He aims to secure a senior management role and grow his agricultural expertise while also working on launching his cooperative, Uphila Kuzenzel’ubomi, which focuses on pig and poultry production.
“It means, ‘making a better living for yourself’. Then the plan is to get everything that we are currently planning into action,” he says.
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