07 Apr 2016

Many youth who acquire funds from Youth Development Fund (YDF) seem to be struggling and hardly ever repay the loans acquired.

Some do however follow the law to the latter and repay the loan on time and one such is Mr Mpho Samuel, whose farming business makes him sleep peacefully like a baby at night.

It was in 2010 when his friend, Mr Thobo Moalosi urged him to apply for funds with YDF and he was indeed granted P94 000.

“I bought goats, a Jojo tank, all material for constructing kraals and all other required necessities,” said Mr Samuel.

The lanky farmer, who beams with joy when talking about his business said he chose goats because  many youth are not interested in farming.

So for him, there was not much competition and luckily water is in abundance in Patayamatebele as his farm is situated near the river.

Even though Mr Samuel has never previously been a farmer in his life, he is doing well in his business.

He noted that goats are an easy business to run as he has not hired any workers since he started and does everything himself.

All he does is to take the goats out of the kraal in the morning to go and graze and in the evening he takes them back to the kraal and gives them water before they can sleep.

Mr Samuel said while goats are grazing during the day, he is free to do all he wants and even ploughs in his spare time.

His business has borne fruits as he is the only youth in Patayamatebele who has been funded for a goats project and has a reliable market.

“My clientele are individuals, LIMID, Poverty Eradication programme and Senn Foods,” he noted.

The young businessman even has social accounts in Facebook page and Twitter for his business called RasSum Farm.

“My business has a readily available market as I do not struggle to sell my goats and make money,” said Mr Samuel.

He has done well and managed to even repay his YDF loan in less than five years, adding that the YDF office is impressed with him and have been persuading him to reapply to expand his business.

Mr Samuel said he would like to expand and purchase milk producing goats as he currently keeps meat goats.

Furthermore, he also wants to introduce supplementary feeding, which makes goats to grow faster.

He said the only challenge he once faced was in 2011 when the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) attacked his region and killed all his goats.

That meant he was out of business for a while but in 2013, the government gave him a set of goats equal to the number of all the goats he lost.

The other problem is that it takes long for veterinary officers from the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) to assist them as they are based in Tati Siding.

“When I call the veterinary offices for assistance, they tell me there is no transport and that I can come collect the officer myself, which really slows down my business,” said Mr Samuel.

He is happy because he faces no competition in his area and his business has enabled him to build a house, buy a car and is able to take care of his family.

His advice for the youth is that they should stop staying in urban areas earning less money and relocate to the lands and venture into farming.

“There is a high rate of unemployment and shortage for goat meat,. So I urge youth to take advantage of farming,” said Mr Samuel as a parting shot. Ends