Fifty youths, comprising 23 males and 27 females from five Agriculture Producer Groups (APGs) recently visited emerging youthful enterprise, KwaTerry in Mhondoro Ngezi District of Mashonalaand West Province. The youths are from Kuwirirana which speciliases in horticulture, Budiriro and Tariro which focus on broilers, Shingirira which produces indigenous chickens as well as Tinotenda which runs an organic garden.
The youthful farmers interacted with Terry Maphosa, a notable young smallholder farmer in Zimbabwe and is the Founder of KwaTerry Chickens which has made significant strides in rural development and sustainable agriculture. Maphosa’s journey into farming began after he struggled to find a job despite holding a political science degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
He later ventured into poultry farming specialising in roadrunner chickens. Recogising the power of social media, Terry utilised these platforms to market his products and grow customer base. He gained a huge following for proudly embodying and promoting the rural life style. He later opened a restaurant selling African dishes in 2022 and this establishment is now a popular place transforming into a rural tourist attraction.
Terry has also been invited to speak at the UN World Food Programme, highlighting his impact on sustainable agriculture and rural development. Through all this work, he has become a role model and mentor for the youth in agriculture.
Capitalising on this, the Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project organised an exchange visit for the youths to enable them to interact with the budding entrepreneur as well as appreciating a vibrant youthful enterprise which relies heavily on agricultural value chains.This aimed to influence perceptions and attitudes of youth in APGs to embrace some skills in improving their ventures.
The host, Terrence Maphosa advised youths to work as groups in order to benefit from economies of scale and to maximize profits. He also emphasized the issue of patience in agriculture as well as being prepared to earn small profits regularly instead of expecting huge profits that come at once. Maphosa also advised the youth to embrace Business Development Services, Financial literacy which will boost their business confidence.
Mhondoro Ngezi district Youth officer encouraged the youths to prioritise entrepreneurship for self and wage employment. He also encouraged them to embrace the opportunity given by SACP to learn from one of the few successful youths.
