Durban — Thabani Ngubane from Mandlanzini in Richards Bay is sharing his passion for agriculture with school pupils in KwaZulu-Natal to get them interested in farming.
Ngubane, founder and CEO of Ithuba Agribusiness, says the youth should first know about working their garden and then they could build a career from it.
He has won awards from various municipalities since he started his company in 2013, including one recently from the South African Local Government Association for his work.
Ngubane said that teaching pupils about planting vegetables does not only feed them for a day but teaches them to be self-sufficient in the future.
“I have a passion for farming and I learned it from my mother. We used to plant in our garden for food,” he said.
Ngubane said the youth needed to be involved in fighting food insecurity.
He said parents and teachers should advise school pupils from an early age to consider getting into the industry.
Ngubane believed that the industry would grow more quickly if more people were involved as it was less capital-intensive to run a farm.
“Support initiatives should start at schools. The Education Department has done such a good job in including agriculture in the curriculum, from primary to high school.
“An issue that I’ve picked up is that because of the water issues the plants die off.
“We could come up with alternative channels at schools such as greenhouses,” he said.
Ngubane said he hoped for a future where everyone grew a plant or vegetable and small-scale farming played a role in the consumer industry.
Sunday Tribune