Woman farmer makes her mark
Agnes ‘Supii’ Tjiramba has been farming in the Gobabis District for 20 years.
ELLANIE SMIT
WINDHOEK
Agnes ‘Supii’ Tjiramba is a determined full-time farmer who aspires to leave a mark in a male-dominated agriculture industry through her contribution to the country’s food security and job creation.
She is one of Agribank’s Livestock and Post-Settlement Loan beneficiaries.
According to Agribank she was resettled two decades ago on farm Grootrooibelt Unit C in the Gobabis District in the Omaheke Region.
Tjiramba farms mainly with large stock and has ventured into other income-generating activities such as charcoal production, horticulture and aquaculture.
She also plans to add poultry to her farming ventures very soon.
“We have a national duty to feed the nation as resettled farmers now that we have a piece of land, that I may say we got for free from the government, because our payment is close to nothing. We all need to produce,” she says.
Tjiramba says her passion for farming started at a young age when she helped her parents with farm chores. She formally embarked on her farming journey as a subsistence farmer at her grandmother’s homestead when she obtained a livestock loan from Agribank.
She then ventured into commercial farming after she was resettled at her current farm in 1999. Later, she received a post-settlement loan from Agribank, which enabled her to set up systems before becoming a full-time farmer in 2008.
Currently, she has 12 permanent employees, and sometimes she recruits casual workers.
Sustainability
She adopted a rotational grazing system at her farm, where she divided the grazing land into ten camps, with each holding between 80 and 130 head of cattle based on the carrying capacity of the land.
Tjiramba says her venture into charcoal production has drastically improved her rangeland and reduced bush encroachment, and for this reason, she recorded zero livestock deaths during the drought of the year 2019.
Challenges
She says low commitment from her employees and lack of finances to optimise maximum production are some of the challenges she is battling with.
“Being a woman in this male-dominated industry and being from a background where women were not allowed to farm or own land, put me in a disadvantaged position.
“However, I have been, and will continue to push through. I want, when I retire, to be able to write a book about myself as a woman in agriculture.”
She said some of her best experiences in farming include the freedom to think independently, being innovative, being her own boss, and the ability to feed her family and the nation at large.
She advises other women and the youth to consider agriculture as a business opportunity to venture into and to work extra hard to become economically independent. She also appeals to the authorities to enable more women and young people to own land and participate in economic opportunities in farming.
WINDHOEK
Agnes ‘Supii’ Tjiramba is a determined full-time farmer who aspires to leave a mark in a male-dominated agriculture industry through her contribution to the country’s food security and job creation.
She is one of Agribank’s Livestock and Post-Settlement Loan beneficiaries.
According to Agribank she was resettled two decades ago on farm Grootrooibelt Unit C in the Gobabis District in the Omaheke Region.
Tjiramba farms mainly with large stock and has ventured into other income-generating activities such as charcoal production, horticulture and aquaculture.
She also plans to add poultry to her farming ventures very soon.
“We have a national duty to feed the nation as resettled farmers now that we have a piece of land, that I may say we got for free from the government, because our payment is close to nothing. We all need to produce,” she says.
Tjiramba says her passion for farming started at a young age when she helped her parents with farm chores. She formally embarked on her farming journey as a subsistence farmer at her grandmother’s homestead when she obtained a livestock loan from Agribank.
She then ventured into commercial farming after she was resettled at her current farm in 1999. Later, she received a post-settlement loan from Agribank, which enabled her to set up systems before becoming a full-time farmer in 2008.
Currently, she has 12 permanent employees, and sometimes she recruits casual workers.
Sustainability
She adopted a rotational grazing system at her farm, where she divided the grazing land into ten camps, with each holding between 80 and 130 head of cattle based on the carrying capacity of the land.
Tjiramba says her venture into charcoal production has drastically improved her rangeland and reduced bush encroachment, and for this reason, she recorded zero livestock deaths during the drought of the year 2019.
Challenges
She says low commitment from her employees and lack of finances to optimise maximum production are some of the challenges she is battling with.
“Being a woman in this male-dominated industry and being from a background where women were not allowed to farm or own land, put me in a disadvantaged position.
“However, I have been, and will continue to push through. I want, when I retire, to be able to write a book about myself as a woman in agriculture.”
She said some of her best experiences in farming include the freedom to think independently, being innovative, being her own boss, and the ability to feed her family and the nation at large.
She advises other women and the youth to consider agriculture as a business opportunity to venture into and to work extra hard to become economically independent. She also appeals to the authorities to enable more women and young people to own land and participate in economic opportunities in farming.
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