By Tṧeliso Tṧosane
With an avid interest in increasing food production and maintaining good health, a highly enthusiastic farmer Tebatso Sekime has ventured into agribusiness, and it is turning out to be lucrative.
Sekime – a teacher by profession – is proving to be a jack of all trades as he is multitasking in different money-spinning agricultural businesses; he aspires to see all of them becoming a reliable source of job creation for youngsters who are passionate about agriculture like him.
Sekime says he firstly ventured into agri-business in 2007, starting out with fruit tree planting where he produced different kinds of fruits such as lemons, grapes and variety of peaches. Currently, he has immersed himself in organic manure manufacturing which receives support from his community in Mafeteng who prefer to buy manure from him.
“My interest in manufacturing organic manure comes from my aspiration of trying to maintain good health because experts say the reason why many people succumb to lifestyle illnesses such as cancer is because they eat food manufactured through the use of harmful synthetic chemicals. So I try to come up with solutions,” he disclosed.
On manufacturing the organic manure, Sekime told this publication that since 2018 he has reared millipedes which he imported from Kenya, and feeds them cow dung in order to produce liquid manure.
One of the business he recently ventured into is yogurt production and he is currently monitoring its growth prospect. He explained that after rearing milk goats he became tempted to produce something out of the milk, so yoghurt manufacturing came to mind. He added that Bataung yoghurt, which is names after his first son, is on sale in Mafeteng where he resides.
On the challenges he faces in his businesses, he mentioned that one big challenge comes from poor sales of tree seedlings. Fortunately, his chief gave him a big enough site where he started an orchard.
“I fund all my businesses because I am a sole proprietor. I prefer to work alone to avoid the disruption that usually comes with partnership,” he noted.
He also revealed that he enjoys working alone because people in a partnership might not same drive as his and this could result in a business collapsing.
To improve his skills in improving his business, he says he is a voracious reader who always conducts research to find information that will help him. He also networks with people from as far afield as India who contribute immensely in arming him with the necessary information.
