7 August 2023
By: Lebogang Mashala
Peter Molepo, 23, of Lebowakgomo Zone A in Limpopo, is changing his community one garden at a time. The young agripreneur has used adversity to his advantage, making a living from farming and teaching his community, including schoolchildren, new skills and knowledge.
Peter’s passion for agriculture began when he was a boy being raised by his grandmother Sarah Segoba Molepo and his mother, Rankotsana Mogau Bosoga, whom he credits with keeping him away from the life of crime he was drifting into.
“My granny introduced me to farming and I was always assigned to do something on the farm when I got home from school,” he says.
Peter’s memories of helping his granny are vivid. “I ploughed maize, watermelons, sugarcane and beans on her mini farm,” he recalls. “Because we lived off the land, I did not go hungry, and every day after school I would look forward to mealies my grandmother would fix us for lunch.”
After matriculating, Peter did odd jobs, mostly in construction, mixing mortar for builders. “I was saved from gangsterism by my farming passion. When I was a kid, I used to roam around with gangsters. Eventually, I joined my granny on her mini farm. That’s the reason I distanced myself from such lifestyles,” he says.
Peter’s uncle, Marengwane Molepo, based in the Western Cape at the time, knew he wanted to study agriculture but couldn’t go to university for financial reasons. He urged him to try his luck at Boland TVET College in Stellenbosch, where he and his wife Refiloe assisted him. In 2021, Peter completed his N6 Farm Management course.
As soon as he returned home, he started a backyard farming operation, then he heard about an opening for a gardener at Ngwana Mokwena Kekana Primary School. “I studied to be a farm manager at Boland, but I wasn’t able to find a job managing a farm, so I saw this as an opportunity,” he says.
Rather than just working as a gardener, he decided to become an ecopreneur/facilitator and started Peter’s Gardening Projects. “I turned the job into a school programme where I taught schoolchildren about how to grow their own food and shared knowledge and skills with them,” he says.
“In addition to sharing this knowledge with them, I encouraged them to start gardens at home.”
After hearing about his project, two more schools, Sello Primary and Maroba High, joined in. Peter says the project has become part of the schools’ feeding programmes. “It’s the vegetables that the students grow that they’re using to feed them.”
Peter continues to work with the schools but he also runs a small farm on land he leases from one of the schools. His crops include spinach, beetroot and spring onions, which he markets informally in the community.
It was through Facebook last year that he was introduced to Food & Trees for Africa. “I saw that they support community gardeners, school gardens, cooperatives, non-profit organisations, and smallholders who farm with natural resources or environmentally friendly methods,” he says.
Upon applying, he was sponsored with infrastructure improvements and given shade nets, garden equipment, drip irrigation pipes and educational materials to help him continue to teach permaculture. The development organisation also donated watering cans and drip irrigation for the school projects.
Additionally, Peter began selling fresh produce in the village under the name Village-Grown Fruits and Vegetables. His produce is sold through a small market, and he also offers space for community gardeners and schools to sell theirs.
“I dream of owning my own farm where I can diversify into livestock production one day,” he says.
