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| Machela |
Lusaka
FARMS are not easy to start, and require a lot of land and skill, but for Machela Mumba, 29, a customer care officer she decided to start goat farming with no skills just a dream.
She also did not have land she could call her own.
Machela does not subscribe to farming as a dirty job; she says youth should see it as a swag and cute profession.
And to demystify this thinking, Machela has decided to call herself the Cute Farmer.
One day because of the inspiration from her grandmother, Machela asked her parents if she could use part of the land at their farm in Rufunsa to venture into Goat farming.
It was a trial and error kind of venture, she did not have capital specific for that Goat farming business.
Currently, Machela works as a Customer Care officer at University of Lusaka, Leopards Hill campus.
“From my little servings, I managed to buy 10 goats and in no time they were over 40 goats, and that’s how my goat farm was established,” Machela says.
As time went by, she thought of the market and what came to her mind was value addition.
Machela is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cute Farmer; she not only rears goats, but has put together her passion and her culinary skills to work.
She tried making goat sharwamas and to her surprise, all was sold out.
Machela again tried selling goat kebabs, cookies and chocolate brownies made from her Goat milk and everything sold out.
From then until now, Goat Sharwama, Kebabs, Cookies and Chocolate brownies made out of goat milk has become her trade make.
She does deliveries on request.
“All my doings in goat farming and value addition has been self-taught. I have not been to any agriculture school. I learn all this through reading. I read a lot of books,” she says.
Machela says through her journey in goat farming, she has learned that farm work in general is quite varied, so it certainly helps to be skilled in many different areas.
And her skill has come about because of the interest she has had in farming.
“I appreciate what I do, I used materials that were seemingly abandoned by my mum and dad and my aunty to make a fence,” Machela says.
Through it all, Machela says understanding the responsibilities and demands of goat farming are sometimes overwhelming.
She says time and again, she has been told that if one wants to become a farmer, they will need to acquire the practical, technical and theoretical knowledge of farm work.
But for Machela, she reads a lot and also has employed five people that take care of the goats.
“Farming involves plenty of manual labour. I have people that I pay from my own pocket to do the work when I am not there,” she says.
Machela described herself as a passionate and hardworking lady, who has finally put her dreams into reality.
She's into Goat meat and milk production, she also sells her goat product in various ways.
She adds, “During some weeks, I also get involved and do some sort of manual labour, now when it’s Monday, sometimes I feel so tired to even get up. But above all, I enjoy juggling between work and farming.”
One of her biggest achievements was registering her company, ‘The Cute Farmer,’ and starting up all by herself as a female is a responsibility she takes seriously.
She is ow looking forward to being one of largest goat breeders nationwide.
“I looked around and I felt goats were the easiest for me because the demand is there and very few people are in goats,” she says.
Now, she is looking into other opportunities like cheese production, flavoured goat milk beverages and other products such as sausages, polony and viennas.
She has seen the power in value addition and she would like to explore more opportunities and potential market.
Machela breeds one of the best quality goats called Kalahari and has no comprise on the quality of herd. As her numbers increase, she hopes to setup an abattoir and cold room facilities.
She has the intention of facilitating trainings to educate those who want to be a part of the goat rearing industry.
Her major challenge has been finding a market but with her diverse products it has narrowed and bridged the gaps she has been facing.
Machela’s words of encouragement to fellow youth are, “Start where you are, with what you have and exercise a lot of patience, consistency, hard work and determination.”
Machela has been in goat farming for a year now, but has only recently begun to commercialise and expand her operation, aligning it to her ultimate goal of eventually going into stud production.
Through her journey she says certain qualities set successful farmers apart, namely a positive attitude and the ability to embrace change.
“Farmers have a capacity for hard work and thorough decision-making, they’re able to handle adversity and work with a great deal of autonomy. Remember, a farmer’s job is more than just their livelihood, it’s their life, and it’s as far away as you can get,” she says.
She says what inspires her is that experienced farmers are self-employed and wear many hats.
Machela says life on the farm provides a sense of community with family often working together contributing to the running of the farm, a thing she feels youth should value.
As a farmer, she is on-call 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Machela says, “I am inspired to make a lasting impact on the planet.”
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