{"id":18354,"date":"2022-08-03T10:25:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T10:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2"},"modified":"2022-08-03T10:48:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T10:48:47","slug":"you-reap-what-you-sow-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2","title":{"rendered":"You reap what you sow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>IF we go by the labels that society routinely slaps on young people, Bokang Monyamane should not be earning a living from agriculture. In addition to being young, he holds a Masters degree.
\nBut times have changed. So, the next time you buy lettuce from one of the local supermarkets, it is likely to be from the small piece of land owned by Monyamane and his family.
\n\u201cOurs is a family agribusiness based in Morija,\u201d the proud Monyamane said.
\n\u201cIt is me, my wife, my brother and both of our parents in the business.<\/p>\n

\u201d Just this season, Monyamane and his family have produced 1 200 heads of lettuce.
\n\u201cMore is coming as we aim for growth in the agribusiness,\u201d he said.
\nThe Monyamane family seeks to change the farming business in Lesotho. Monyamane has been a farmer since he could walk on his own. He was hardly five when his mother introduced him to agriculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember I already had a watering can and a digging fork by then,\u201d says Monyamane, who holds a Masters Degree from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT).
\n\u201cIn fact, our peers used to joke about how hard we worked in our family.
\n\u201d Then there was his grandmother.
\n\u201cShe used to give me all kinds of seeds to grow flowers.
\n\u201cShe would say, this is flower so and so, this is a seed for this and that, it will help you with one or two.<\/p>\n

Even today I have up to 30 different flowers where I live, I just love them. \u201d Monyamanes have a relatively huge yard at their home. JThey used to grow so many vegetables that they would supply boarding schools and restaurants in the area.<\/p>\n

But farming was just their hobby until they heard of the Small Agricultural Development Programme (SADP) in 2018. SADP is a government of Lesotho project that seeks to increase agricultural market opportunities and market-oriented smallholder production.<\/p>\n

In addition to helping farmers with project management, the project also aims to identify commercially viable activities that can be replicated and successfully scaled up.<\/p>\n

The family applied for funding but could not get it. One thing about farmers is that they are extremely patient. As one wise man would have put it, \u201clife on a farm is a school of patience; you can\u2019t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days\u201d.<\/p>\n

The family decided to try again and their patience paid off. Then, the work began. With additional resources from their savings, they sunk a borehole, bought a shade-net and poles and hired labour.<\/p>\n

They even attended cropping classes. In 2020 they grew lettuce as well as red, yellow and green pepper. This year, they focused exclusively on lettuce and they are supplying Enrich Stores, Pick \u2018n Pay and a host of restaurants around Maseru.<\/p>\n

Monyamane has wise words for young people who might want to venture into agriculture. Here are his four rules: Rule 1: Agriculture is not (necessarily) Agri-Business.<\/p>\n

We have done agriculture since the times of Moshoeshoe and beyond. However, in agribusiness, we need to create business structures if we are to sell. Don\u2019t be a jack of all trades.<\/p>\n

For instance, as a director I oversee the whole business, my wife does finances and branding, my brother is into graphics, designs and packaging while our parents manage the crops.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows their roles. Rule 2: If you don\u2019t know whom you are going to sell to, don\u2019t put seeds in the ground, otherwise you will end up complaining about the lack of markets.<\/p>\n

More often than not, it is not the lack of markets as it is the lack of an analysis of the markets. Before you grow anything ask yourself who would buy the product.<\/p>\n

Whenever possible, make a deal with the potential buyer before you even plant a single seed. Rule 3: Brand \u201cwants\u201d not \u201cneeds\u201d. We don\u2019t need to package everything.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to brand everything. I have to spend money branding my lettuce because it is a want, not a need. But would I need to brand my maize? Maybe not.<\/p>\n

Rule 4: Don\u2019t expect profits at the first trial. Pyramid schemes may be there for those who want (but rarely ever get) quick returns. In real business, it may take many years to make a profit.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. IF we go by the labels that society routinely slaps on young people, Bokang Monyamane should not be earning a living from agriculture. In addition to being young, he holds a Masters degree. But times have changed. So, the next time you buy lettuce from one of the local supermarkets, it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245,532],"class_list":["post-18354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-young"],"yoast_head":"\nYou reap what you sow - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IF we go by the labels that society routinely slaps on young people, Bokang Monyamane should not be earning a living fro ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You reap what you sow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IF we go by the labels that society routinely slaps on young people, Bokang Monyamane should not be earning a living fro ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T10:25:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T10:48:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_24-62ea5275168a3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"You reap what you sow\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-03T10:25:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-03T10:48:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\"},\"wordCount\":734,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_24-62ea5275168a3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"young\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/you-reap-what-you-sow-2\",\"name\":\"You reap what you sow - 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