For Ntumbuluko Nicholas Maluleke, 33, owner of Lonezer Projects, farming didn’t start with a business plan or a bank loan. It started at home.
As a boy in Nwamatatani village, he was already planting vegetables in the backyard of his family homestead- small patches of spinach and tomatoes that fed the house and sparked something bigger. Today, that backyard instinct has grown into a full crop operation. On his 15 hectares farm, Ntumbuluko cultivates tomatoes, spinach, mustard greens, green pepper, cabbages, butternut, chillies, onions, baby marrows, okra and beetroot.
His path wasn’t straight to the fields. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering at university level, Ntumbuluko bounced back into farming. “Crop farming is in my blood,” he says. With no government funding or institutional support, every seed, pipe, and packet of fertilizer has been self- funded.
That self- funded operation now sustains more than just his family. He employs 23 permanent workers and brings in casuals when the season demands more hands. His produce moves through OBC Nkuna Kraal, Save More Giyani, Spar Elim, Jozi Market, Tshwane Market, Durban Market, Cape Town Market, walk- in customers from different communities.
The worst moment is when he lost 10 000 heads of cabbages that were almost ready to be sold due to the recent floods we had in the province.
It’s that resilience that’s pushing him toward the bigger picture, agri- processing. Ntumbuluko’s next step is to process his own tomatoes, chillies and beetroot on the farm. “If we control the processing, we control more of the income “, he explains.” That’s how we build something that lasts”.
When asked what he’d advise someone wanting to start crop- farming, his answer is simple, “Start small.” It’s how he began- in a backyard at his homestead and it’s how he believes others can grow. Climate Change is messing with the agriculture industry. Erratic rain, new pests, and seasons that no longer follow the old rules. But for farmers like Ntumbuluko, it’s not just a job. It’s a calling.