LIMPOPO – A young farmer, Mukovhe Ndou from Tshiozwi village outside Louis Trichardt, started his poultry enterprise in 2015, selling chickens, eggs and producing vegetables for a living.
Takalani Poultry Farm is not only self-sustainable, but creates jobs for those within his community too.
The idea of starting the business came about after years of looking for employment, with no success, he told CV.
“I told myself that, instead of going around looking for employment, I must create employment for myself. I was tired of looking to others to employ me, and realised that I had a passion for farming. Even with the challenges, the key is to be passionate about what you do and to be patient when things are going rough.”
He said his dream is to one day own a big farm and employ more young people.
“I have regular customers who come in every time and I strive to live up to my promise of delivering quality products.”
In 2019, Ndou sold all his chickens and bought pigs, and decided to buy a hatchery.
“I managed to produce 1 056 baby chickens for the first time and since then, I have never looked back. In 2013, I started to plant vegetables including cabbage, chillies, onions, butternut and mustard,” he said.
He said he is happy to have learnt so much in such a short space of time.
“I sold more than 1 000 live chickens within three days, and quickly established a new target market. Today, my customers are villagers, other farmers and businesspeople who own Chisanyamas.”
Amid the odd challenges, Ndou says he wants to employ even more people to help ease the unemployment problem in the province.