Africa-Press – Lesotho. Agribusiness has been identified as one of the key contributing factors to the betterment and growth of the country’s economy. A 33 year old Mosotho Bokang
Petje from Matsieng owns a greenhouse in his Happy C & J village farm where he grows vegetables since October 2015. Petje pointed out that his greenhouse produces tomatoes, green pepper, onion, cabbage, spinach, chilies
and potatoes. He further stated that he used to work in an accounting consultancy company – as he holds a Diploma in Accounting from the Centre of Accounting
Studies (CAS) – before taking the risk of establishing this project. “I Loved to farm a lot at home when I was growing up so I decided to follow my heart and
left a job that was paying very well and decided to engage in farming though I had no guarantee that I will succeed,” said Petje. Petje mentioned that having
realized that most of the food items that are consumed by Basotho are imported from South Africa (SA) with high prices, he decided to venture into the
business. “Since I love agribusiness, I realized a huge market gap which a local company could benefit from by producing in bulk and supplying vegetables.
I perceived that 80% of the food imported from South Africa and were on the shelves of the supermarkets and the street vendors,” Petje related. He stated
that he is determined to break the price range set by the larger markets in SA and effectively relegate the produce in Lesotho. However, Petje noted that
the issues of climate change make it very difficult for the farmers to have reliable produce of vegetables. “I was able to come up with the solution to
this matter by planting my crops in a climate controlled environment of the greenhouse technology which is unknown in the area and most farmers continue to
use the orthodox methods of farming which limit the production of crops due to the unreliable weather patterns,” said Petje. He stated that it was not
easy in the first year where he literally worked for a loss but fortunately he was able to do well in the second year. Moreover, he noted that he now has a
big store in Maseru which supplies fresh vegetables for sale to the community. “I was able to secure markets which will buy my produce and some of them were
the restaurants, schools and big recognized Supermarkets like Shoprite USAVE and local Pick n Pay,” explained Petje. He said a greenhouse allows one to grow
off-season crops, have the biggest production and better quality, have greater control of pests, weeds and diseases. He further stated that he produces at least one hundred and twenty (120) boxes of green pepper a week.
“There are what we call fast cash crops like lettuce, green pepper and tomatoes, there
is a lot of money in them,” he said. He further explained that all crops have a bigger market but it depends on the time a farmer distributes to a consumer.
He meant that if a farmer sells tomatoes in January when everyone has them at home, obviously the business will not succeed so he pointed that a farmer should know the target market and the right season.
“Agriculture has changed my life a lot because I have achieved so much in life through it where I no
longer call myself an accountant but a farmer,” said Petje. He urged Basotho to engage in agribusiness through the use of greenhouses as the harvest of their produce will be high and poverty would be eradicated permanently.
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