Farmer’s Weekly – 23 August 2019

forthebroilerproduction,
farmmanagementand
environmentalcontrolcourses.
I graduatedin2010,’’hesays.

OvercOmingObstacles
Duringthesameyear,Matshenja
anda groupofotherfarmers
establisheda co-operativeto
farmonhisparents’land.They
appliedforaninfrastructure
grantfromtheDepartment
ofTradeandIndustry(DTI).
However,theydidnotgetthe
fundingbecausetheydiscovered
theycouldnotrenewthelease
onthelandasit wasbeing
rezonedfora housingproject.
In2014,theco-operative
managedtoleasesomeland
inEikenhof,30kmoutside
Johannesburg,whereMatshenja
nowstillfarmsonabout1ha.
Theywerethenabletoaccess
theinfrastructuregrantfromDTI.

WiththeR310 000 theyreceived,

theybuiltthreechicken

houses.But,Matshenjaadmits,

duetopoormanagement,

theyoperatedonlyone,and

eventuallythebusinessfailed.

“Duetolackoffinance

wecouldonlyplace 1000

chickens,whichmeantwehad

inconsistentsupply.Weshould

havebuiltonlyonehouseto

startwithsothatwecouldhave

hadmoreworkingcapital.”

Hedidn’twallowindefeatfor

toolong;in 2015 hedecidedto

getstartedwiththebusiness

again,thistimeflyingsolo.

“Tobuildupcapital,I applied

forfundsfromtheNational

YouthDevelopmentAgency.In

2016 I wasawardedR38000.”

In2017,hebuiltanotherchicken

house,putupa fenceand

othersecuritymeasures,and

constructeda siloforstoringfeed.

Afterbeingnominatedlast

yearintheYouthinAgriculture,

ForestryandFisheriesawards,

hereceivedsometechnical

assistanceviatheagriculture

department’sComprehensive

AgricultureSupportProgramme.

However,hisbiggest

achievementtodatehasbeen

winningtheStarofBuhle

Awardfor 2019 fromthe

BuhleAcademy.It camewith

R100 000 prizemoney,which

heusedtobuilda coldroom.

“Themostimportant

lessonI hadtolearnwasthe

importanceofinvestingand

FastFacts

• EikenhoffarmerBhefikaMatshenja
  buysin 1 600day-oldchicksevery
  14 daystomakeoptimaluseofthe
  spaceandensureconsistentsupply.


• Hisbiggestachievementhasbeen
  winningthestarofBuhleaward
  for 2019 fromBuhleacademy.
  HeusedtheR100 000 prize
  moneytobuilda coldroom.


• Inhlakanipho Projects and Farms
  also grows vegetables, which are
  sold to a local supermarket.

ABOVE:

The chicken house

rests for about

14 days before

the next batch of

day-old chicks

arrives on the farm.

RIGHT:

From left:

Paul Mashele

(employee),

Johannes

Matshenja

(Bhekifa’s father)

and Star of Buhle

Award winner

Bhefika Matshenja.

23 August 2019 farmer’sweekly 33