A female farmer is reaping her rewards after she harvested her first crop of spinach this week.
Ncumisa Mkabile from Khayelitsha, never thought she would enter the field of agriculture, let alone make a success of it.
The 27-year-old said she started farming chickens and vegetables in March this year when the lockdown started.
“I used to have a catering company but because of the lockdown, business was not doing so well and I looked for a piece of land to start planting green peppers,” she says.
She then decided to plant spinach because it is a winter crop.
I’LL SPINACH YOUR LIFE: Ncumisa Mkabile, 27, from Khayelitsha. Pictures: Ayanda Ndamane African News Agency(ANA)
“There was a huge demand for my spinach. I then decided to also supply chicken and I have never looked back.
“On 20 May, we planted the seedlings and today we are harvesting.”
Ncumisa says she does not have any background in agriculture and learns as she goes along, with the help of the internet.
She says she is grateful for the support she gets from people who encourage her to keep going.
“I took social media and used it as my marketing tool. Today we harvested over 1 000 bunches of fresh spinach and there’s nothing left.
Picture: Ayanda Ndamane African News Agency(ANA)
“People pulled up with bakkies and trucks to purchase the spinach.”
Her biggest challenge is infrastructure because she does not have an irrigation system.
“I use a watering can to water the whole garden, which can be tiring, and I would also love to have more land because once I’ve harvested, I must wait for the new crops to be ripe before selling again,” she explains.
Amazingly, she has provided jobs to seven people thus far and plans to expand gradually.
GROW: Ncumisa has employed seven people
“Farming is a male-dominated industry and I’m trying to break such stereotypes and show other young women that we can do it too,” the determined young woman says.
“In two weeks we will harvest again and we just started planting our new seedlings. That harvest will be available in September. I cannot wait,” she adds.
If you would like to place an order, you can contact her on 076 5829 330
.