Amos Njoro found his passion for farming by accident as a lack of funds stopped him from following his dream of becoming a teacher. Today, Amos is qualified in agriculture and runs a successful grain operation on several farms. He also runs an AgriSeta accredited company, Ya-rona Temo, which offers training and mentorship to many aspiring farmers across the country. Amos spoke to African Farming’s Peter Mashala.

Amos Njoro dreamt of becoming a teacher but did not have the money to pay for college. This setback turned into a blessing as it put Amos on a path to a successful career in agriculture. His first job was as an extension officer for the former Bophuthatswana government-owned agribusiness, Agrico. He later became a government extension officer in the North West province where he worked until 2001 before joining the giant agribusiness, Senwes, in Klerksdorp.

“I worked for Senwes for four years before Grain SA recruited me to become the provincial project coordinator for their Emerging Grain Farmer Development Programme for North West, Free State and Gauteng provinces,” Amos recalls.

The good work and the success rate of farmers in the Grain SA programme prompted the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) to ask Amos to help train farmers. In 2010, he applied for a farm to start his own farming business and was allocated Vlakplaas, a 280ha farm just outside Vanderbijlpark under the government’s Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS).

Amos now grows maize and soya beans and runs Ya-Rona Temo, a consultancy and training business, along with his three children and his wife, Anna Njoro.

Born in the small village of Mokgalwaneng outside Rustenburg in the North West, Amos says he dreamt of becoming a teacher, inspired by the way teachers dressed in those days, neatly attired with a jacket and tie. He passed matric with a university exemption but his parents could not afford to put him through college.

“My father supported his family through subsistence farming,” says Amos. “So, after completing matric in 1989, I worked as a security guard for a month at Bleskop Mine, Rustenburg, then did casual work at Sun City. Later I worked at a leather factory in Mogwase,” he adds.

A CAREER DETOUR

On a weekend off at home, Amos saw a magazine advertisement offering a bursary from Agrico to study agriculture.

“I had never considered farming as a career, but I wanted an opportunity to study, so I applied,” he says. He was invited to an interview in Lehurutshe, about 400km from his home village.

Amos says the advert stated that all candidates would be interviewed in their own districts. “My district was Mogwase, but the invitation sent me to Lehurutshe. Because of the distance, I travelled by taxi a day before to get there on time,” explains Amos. “I didn’t know anyone there. I just got off the taxi and walked to the closest house to ask for accommodation. All I had on me was my ID and the letter from Agrico.”

At the interview, the panel’s chairperson picked up from his invitation that Amos was from another district. When he learnt the story of how Amos had made it to the interview, the chairperson was convinced that he was the best candidate for the bursary. He was awarded the bursary and went to the Taung College of Agriculture to study a three-year diploma in agriculture.

“When I finished studying, I worked as an extension officer for Agrico in the Brits area focusing on Bapong, Bethanie and the Mothotlung areas,” remembers Amos.

When Agrico was dissolved after 1994, Amos went to the North West Department of Agriculture as an extension officer. In 2001 he was recruited by Senwes, mainly to advise farmers on soil management and crop production. Later he became the provincial coordinator at Grain SA. “There, I coordinated all the emerging farmer training and workshops,” explains Amos.

TAKING A LEAP

His work with Grain SA earned Amos recognition from GDARD who roped him in to help with training and mentoring Gauteng’s developing grain farmers. Exposure to these farmers gave Amos the idea of farming for himself. He took the leap in 2010 and applied for a farm which was granted to him under a 30-year lease.

“I started farming fulltime, offering farming, consultancy and training services from 2011,” says Amos. Today, he plants over 310ha to maize and 100ha to soya beans on his farm and two other farms he rents nearby.

“I plant 200ha to sunflower in Rustenburg on a farm I lease from the Bakgatla Tribal Authority. This is also where I keep my herd of about 60 cattle,” explains Amos.

He employs six permanent workers and between 50 and 100 casual workers in the season. Amos markets his grain through Senwes, AFGRI and SAB. Amos is financed by FarmSol, the AB Inbev/SAB subsidiary, which provides farmers with interest-free loans.

“I was fortunate to receive a grant from the government’s Recapitalisation Programme whichIusedtobuyequipmentandimprove some infrastructure. Afgri also funded my production, acquisition of additional machinery, and training and mentorship.”

Amos farms dryland crops. His production window starts in October and ends in July when the harvest should be in. “We start land prep from 15 October and planting must be done by 12 December,” explains Amos.

He says they don’t plant sunflower on the Vaal farm because there are no other farmers growing sunflower in his area. This increases the risk of losses caused by birds. “There are lots of birds in this area and only a few farmers growing sunflower compared to the Rustenburg area,” says Amos. The more lands planted to sunflower, says Amos, the less the damage caused by birds. “We control birds by shooting, but the risk is higher when there is less sunflower planted.”

Amos practices minimum till because of the type of soil and the equipment he has.

“I believe one must adopt a system to suit one’s soil and machinery. I could only start with no-till when I had the correct equipment and other resources,” explains Amos. “I use BR seed for soya beans and maize for easy weed and pest control and higher yields.”

THE BENEFITS OF TWO CROPS

Amos rotates soya beans and maize. The market price influences his decision on which crop will take the greater share of the planted area. “We predict prices based on what may affect the market locally and globally,” he says. Amos feels that the situation in Russia and Ukraine will affect many things, including fuel and grain prices.

“Because these two countries are among the primary grain producers, the situation there may lead to a shortage which will obviously drive the prices up. So, as a farmer, one must be clued up on how the world operates to make informed decisions,” explains Amos.

He says if the soya bean prices look better than the maize price, they’ll plant more soya.

Crop rotation, according to Amos, helps with sustainability. “Soya beans help us keep our soil in good condition as the crop puts nitrogen back into the soil. We reduce production costs because we don’t use fertiliser when growing soya beans,” he explains. The added nitrogen means less fertiliser is needed when maize is replanted.

SURVIVING INPUT COSTS

It is vital to keep costs as low as possible because the prices for fertiliser, diesel and other chemicals have soared in the past few years, Amos explains. He says the per/ha cost of planting maize has jumped from R7 000/ha a few years ago to R14 000/ha. In the current season, he paid R700 for a bag of LAN for which he paid R380 last season.

He says this may have been due to high demand influenced partly by the higher than normal rainfall. “When it rains a lot, you must apply more nitrogen (LAN) in the ground because it washes away easily. Chemicals such as RoundUp have increased from R1 200/ 20 litres to R3 500/20 litres.” The only way to survive this is to increase yields and produce optimally. “But it’s not that simple. To increase your yields, you must also increase your appli­ cation of fertilisers and some other things.”

To try and boost his yields, Amos has installed two 15ha centre pivots so that he can double crop his maize. He plans to sell one maize crop as green mealies and one as grain. His average dryland yield is 5t/ha, a yield he hopes to double under irrigation. “The green mealies will boost our cash flow,” he says.

Most of Amos’ maize crop is sold to AB Inbev/SAB through a FarmSol contract while the soya beans are sold through Senwes and Afgri. “The contract I have with FarmSol is not fixed but allows me to hedge my price,” explains Amos. Hedging, he says, helps offset the risk of price movements in the market by locking in a price in the futures market.

“This means I can opt to sell when the price looks good within a certain bracket. For example, if I see that the price could reach up to R4 500/ton, I can lock it within the R3 900 to R4 500 range,” explains Amos. “This means if the price drops below the minimum price, I still get paid the R3 900. However, if it goes beyond R4 500, I’ll only get the R4 500 maximum, even if it reaches R8 000.”

FUTURE EXPANSION

Amos says financing and machinery have been a challenge, but the biggest obstacle is land. He is currently looking for more land as he needs a minimum of 500ha to unleash his capacity and potential. “Once I have more land the rest will follow. I want to be big in farming, to be fully commercial and add value to the economy by creating more jobs and improving food security,” he says.

Autumn is the time for sheep and goat farmers to work at keeping the body condition scores of their ewes up so that when lambing starts in about a month, the lambs and kids will get the best possible start. During autumn grass starts losing quality and cattlemen change to a higher-protein winter lick to stimulate the intake of low quality grass. This increases the intakes of low-quality grass. Tomato tunnel farmers are harvesting the last of their crops before winter’s frosts arrive.

GOATS

George Kgomo, Mmotle, North West

With the past season’s above average rains we’ve had problems related to wet weather, including footrot and increased tick populations. High temperatures and humidity provide the perfect breeding ground for parasites and we have had high tick loads.

Most of our ewes are pregnant and we expect to start kidding from the end of this month. We feed every ewe a 250g/day ration of a home-mixed supplement of 40% Maxiwool concentrate, 50% crushed yellow maize and 10% salt. They get half the ration (125g) in the morning before they go out to graze and the other half in

the afternoon. This mix has helped us keep their body condition between BCS 4 and BCS 5. We start weaning kids at three months but will push it to four months depending on condition.

The weaned kids are given another home-mixed supplement that contains 75% crushed yellow maize, 20% of Voermoel’s SS200 concentrate for growing out and 5% of Voermoel’s high protein concentrate Procon33. We feed out lucerne bales for roughage a few times a week to the other animals in the flock.

We deworm with Nem-A-Rid® Orange. This is to deal with roundworm, lungworm, milk tapeworm, liver fluke and nasal bot.

SHARE is supported by the Government of Canada and funded by Global Affairs Canada. It is part of the historic $325-million commitment Canada made when it hosted the Women Deliver conference in 2019, an investment that is promoting gender equality and the health and rights of women and girls and supporting the realization of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, initially announced support for the SHARE project at the Canadian Conference on Global Health in November 2021.

Though progress has been made in recent years to reduce the systemic barriers marginalized groups face in realizing their sexual and reproductive rights, more work is needed. A 2020 study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 57 countries found that only 55% of girls and women feel they’re empowered to make decisions and exercise their reproductive rights. This lack of autonomy puts them at increased risk of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and dangerous childbirth. In Ghana, the rate of adolescent pregnancies climbed from 10% in 2008 to 30% in 2017, with an additional increase starting in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. In Mozambique, almost half of girls will be married before they turn 18, and one in 10 will be married before the age of 15. In Uganda, the rate of child marriage is slightly lower, with 40% of girls getting married before 18; in recent years, the proportion of underage pregnancies (15-19 years old) has increased to 25%.

Drawing on project partners’ respective areas of expertise, the consortium will work with young adults, teachers, educators, local health workers, as well as community and government partners to increase access to sexual and reproductive health education and to gender-responsive health services for youth, especially girls and young women.

FAWE, a pan-African NGO founded in 1992 that promotes girls’ and women’s education by influencing the transformation of education systems in Africa through advocacy, will focus on advocacy and policy engagement to ensure adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health rights become a reality.

“In this day and age, we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand regarding the sexual and reproductive health rights of girls and young women. The stakes are too high and the price too heavy to bear unless we act effectively. The time to address the elephant in the room and act accordingly is now,” says Martha Muhwezi, Executive Director, FAWE Africa.

Right To Play will use over two decades of experience protecting, educating and empowering children through the power of play to equip mentors and teachers with the training they need to provide young people with evidence-based information about sexual and reproductive health through experiential learning activities in schools.

“We are proud to support youth, especially girls and young women, to build knowledge and confidence that will help them make fact-based decisions about their reproductive health,” says Susan McIsaac, CEO, Right to Play International. “Using our engaging, play-based approach to learning, we will work with our expert partners FAWE, FHI360, and WaterAid to address the systemic barriers that keep youth from claiming their health-related human rights and empower them to become advocates for their own health.”

Autumn is the time for sheep and goat farmers to work at keeping the body condition scores of their ewes up so that when lambing starts in about a month, the lambs and kids will get the best possible start. During autumn grass starts losing quality and cattlemen change to a higher-protein winter lick to stimulate the intake of low quality grass. This increases the intakes of low-quality grass. Tomato tunnel farmers are harvesting the last of their crops before winter’s frosts arrive.

CATTLE

Sizwe Khoza, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga

The veld is getting dryer now and will be less nutritious. This means we must supplement to provide the cattle with enough nutrients so that they remain in good condition for the rest of the dry season. We’ve had good rains, so there is still plenty of grass. Feeding a supplement helps to keep their diet balanced while it also increases feed intake from veld or pastures. We feed out protein supplements to our animals.

This helps stimulate rumen microbial populations, increasing their ability to digest feed. This winter lick also contains small amounts of urea, which encourages voluntary feed intake, especially of veld grass that is less palatable during winter.

However, when they are on this type of supplement, we practice a rapid rotation through the camps to prevent them from overgrazing. We also provide crushed yellow maize and molasses for energy. We put down salt blocks and add some salt to the licks to manage feed intake.

Salt helps cattle maintain normal appetite and body weight. We make certain there is enough clean drinking water in all camps. We treat the cattle for external and internal parasites with Ivomec Gold.

We also use this quiet time of the year when there is less activity to take care of infrastructure maintenance, such as repairing fences and fixing pumps.

Where does confidence fit in? Having a healthy level of self-confidence can help you become more successful in your business and personal life. And to add, there is a difference between confidence and arrogance!

Self-confidence means trusting your own judgement, abilities and competence. For me it simply means understanding that the quality of my thinking = the quality of my success. Self-confidence has a big impact on how others perceive you. Especially as you only have a seven second period to make an impression when meeting someone for the first time. 87% of what our brain absorb is visual, 9% is from what we hear, only 4% is through other senses. The words we use is therefore less important than your body language when meeting prospective clients.

Here are 5 steps that will boost your self confidence

1. Start celebrating other’s successes; stop comparing yourself to them.

One of the biggest lessons in my journey as an entrepreneur was to stop comparing myself with associates or other profiles I see on social media and in my network. Embrace an abundance mindset and know there is sufficient work for all. More importantly, you have a unique offering and don’t damper your sparkle by choosing jealousy over collaboration. The magic will start when you are open to celebrating women’s successes and cheering them on from the side. 

2. Nurture risk-taking and willingness to fail instead of seeing failures as a weakness

Failure should be reframed and not seen as a negative trait or weakness. A study done by Sage, found that 26% of women who did not own a business were “not afraid to take a risk” compared to 43% who owned a business. You might argue that it is due to business owners having so much to lose and can’t afford to take too many risks. We need to find the balance. Being risk-averse can dampen your business growth. On the flipside, being too risk-tolerant can also negatively impact your business. Find the balance at an appropriate risk-taking point. Have a growth mindset where you learn when a risk doesn’t work out. Always remember to seek input from mentors before taking a risk and try different strategies when something didn’t work out. Do many small experiments and tweak until it is successful.

3. Practice self-compassion and do positive self-talk (daily!)

We underestimate the power of our words. When setting goals, we teach people to use words like “I commit to…”, or “I promise to…”, instead of “I wish…”. Similarly, we need to be mindful of how you speak about yourself. The neuroscientist says, “What the brain thinks, the body believes”. So, the next time you say “that was stupid of me” reframe the words to something different.

4. Surround yourself with successful people.

According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, [the people you habitually associate with] determine as much as 95% of your success or failure in life. What an insight! This can have important consequences when you consider who you spend most of your time with.  Do you spend time with people that you admire, that is aligned to your values and walk the talk when it comes to building a business or leading by example? Or do you interact with people that complain most of the time, whose work ethic behaviour is questionable or people not taking pride in their work? Consider if you need to reassess their role in your life.  

5. Increase your D.O.S.E of feel-good chemicals through exercise & movement

This is not new. We all know the impact of exercising on our bodies and brains. Do you have habits in place to increase your natural daily D.O.S.E or do you need to create new daily habits?