BBL PARTICIPANT: David Motsweni, Boekenhouthoek, Mpumalanga
In a Nutshell
Through his participation in SocioTech’s Broad-Based Livelihoods (BBL) strategies to stimulate personal economic activity, David Motsweni from Boekenhouthoek, Mpumalanga has started a food garden, created a surplus and started selling. He is growing in confidence and business acumen daily.
He says…
When I met Mr Kwena, I had a bit of experience planting mielies and potatoes for a local commercial farmer (Mr Johan) and I had been planting at my house for about a year and 6 months. All that experience builds you as a person, but the methods that I learnt through Mr Kwena are so different from anything I learnt before that I feel like I really became a farmer with SocioTech.
Since I have been applying the SocioTech methods the difference in my output is amazing. Learning how to prepare the soil and dig the trenches and mulching is so important. Learning about what to plant and when to plant is what makes for success. Through Mr Kwena I learnt about growing God’s way – organically, without chemicals. With this approach my garden has gone from strength to strength.
These days my spinach looks lovely – all green and shiny. If it is a super-hot day sometimes it falls a bit, but as soon as the evening cool comes, it goes back up. There is enough moisture in the soil to keep my spinach strong even in the harshest conditions. It tastes delicious too. My mother does most of the cooking in my house and whatever else is on the table, there must always be spinach. If it is chicken, there must be spinach. If it is wors, spinach is there. Even if it is just pap and spinach with a tomato gravy, the taste is wonderful. I think that delicious taste is because I don’t use chemicals. Farming God’s way makes for great taste. And great health. I know my spinach is full of vitamins and minerals. The spinach is stronger, and so am I, because of the SocioTech way.
It is not just that the quality is better. It is also the quantity. Before, I was just planting to feed my family but now I have so much surplus that I have moved into selling. My neighbours walked past my garden and saw what good crops I had and started to ask to buy from me. Before it was survival. Now it is business. Good business. People in this area, they know me as David the farmer man. They appreciate what I do because I sell a quality product at a good price.
"....every summer it produces a lot of fruit."
I am less expensive than the supermarkets and my customers don’t need to take expensive taxi journeys to buy from me. And my product is fresher. That supermarket spinach is often old and wilted. The only time my customers complain is when my spinach is finished.
I am gradually expanding my land under cultivation and digging new trenches so that I can keep up with demand. I am confident that if I expand land, I will get more customers. The success has built confidence in me. Before, I was frightened of what the future would bring. I didn’t like to think about it because it seemed too scary, but now I believe in myself. Because I am feeling more confident, I am starting to plan for the future. I am starting to see opportunities all around me. For instance, there is a big, old mango tree at my house. Every summer it produces a lot of fruit. I used to just see those fruit as a nice taste. Now I think: ‘maybe this could be an atchar business.’ I know that I would need training to make that happen, but I am confident that with SocioTech that can come to pass. Recently, I was helping my brother with a building project and the man we were working for gave me two little goats. I am eager to learn more about farming with them. I think there could be another opportunity for business there.
Friends of mine come to my garden and they say I wish I had a garden like yours and I tell them about SocioTech. I remind them what my garden was like before I met Mr Kwena. Of course, there are a few people who don’t understand. They say: ‘why are you working so hard? Why spend so much time digging these grave shaped trenches?’ but I ignore them. I know this method works. I know that the only thing that will be buried in these graves is the worry, the fear and the pain of hunger. I am burying dependency and growing a new life for myself and my family.
BBL MyFood
BBL Mentoring & Monitoring
BBL Veg Tunnel self-build
BBL FruitTree Campaign
BBL MyFuture
BBL MyBusiness
BBL MyPoultry
BBL MyLivestock
BBL BusinessBuilders
BBL FoodEconomy
BBL OurMarket
BBL TalentShow
BBL GardenCompetition
BBL YouthSurvey
BBL SportsTournament
- Money management skills
- Business diversification
