“We feel honoured to have landed a contract of this magnitude. Getting this contract has rejuvenated our souls thus giving us the passion and power to keep moving forward for the next challenge. We share the celebration with our land reform beneficiaries as this contract literally lifts up our emotions to take part in something communal, something shared with other people,” says Tjale.
The appointment comes after Mpumalanga Provincial Department issued farms through the land reform project. The farms were unfortunately not striving because of various issues such as lack of capacity to produce by beneficiaries, lack of skills, and lack of funding, amongst others.
Tjale's company will offer mentorship for vegetables, grain, and livestock in four districts of Mpumalanga. He explains that the training and mentoring will empower farmers with the skills and knowledge necessary to operate their farms.
“This project will assist farmers to become self-sustainable, be able to support their families and create jobs for others. They chose us because we met the minimum requirements and the fact that we were able to outline a clear plan on how we are going to make the land reform farm more productive. The project will be rolled out in Nkangala, Gert Sibande, and Ehlanzeni District," he adds.
“Most farmers need to move away from a traditional way of doing things into a more precision kind of farming. This is the reason we extended our scope to obtain accreditation from The Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICTseta) to offer systems development courses so that we can train our farmers on how to develop applications and systems that are going to enhance their farming businesses."
Tjale graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Agricultural Extension in 2016. He is a qualified facilitator and assessor accredited by the Agriseta to train over 15 agricultural qualifications. He is also a co-founder of Bokamoso Global Solutions, which was registered in 2017 after he graduated from UMP.
“I was very hands-on and involved during my academic years, which has made me quite effective in combining creative thinking with logical design ideas to develop solutions to challenging environmental problems."
Currently, Bokamoso Global Solutions trains farm employees and gives them certificates with the hope that they will some day open their own companies or farms. So far Tjale’s company has trained over 300 farm employees with no formal education in nine commercial farms and five cooperatives. So far iIt has trained commercial farmers, which include Timbali Flower Growers, Sis Apples Bonnie Braes Farms, and Zz2, to name a few.
“Our company is fully accredited with Agriseta to offer expert technical advice, training and mentorship to farmers and farming communities. Our company provides rigorous management and control of the entire design, engineering, procurement and construction of agricultural projects and provides its clients with enhanced flexibility and security for managing change during the project lifecycle. We also provide farm management, mentoring and training services," says Tjale.
@ Story by Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures supplied.