Charles Tjatindi
Ileni Nandjato is no stranger to many, as his journalism career took him to many people’s homes and lives. Working for one of the country’s largest national daily newspapers, Namibian Sun, in the densely- populated northern areas, Nandjato proved his mettle by serving the area well.
But far from the exploits of the newsroom and the newspaper pages, Nandjato has been turning a new page: that of intensive crop farming. He also keeps some livestock as part of his agribusiness, Far-Far Away Farming, which was started in 2016.
Armed with a B-Tech in Public Management, Nandjato said his journalism days helped contribute to the success of his current business as he got to understand the needs of the communities around him during work assignments.
“I am married and a father of three. During my days of journalism, I had visited many community projects to understand issues of community development, something that has also assisted me when I started my project.
This shows that one never knows where you will end up, and it is therefore always best to make optimum use of opportunities granted to you,” he opined. The business is housed in different venues, with the horticulture part being practised on a one-hectare garden and some small stock (goats) at Ekoyanaambo village near Ondangwa. The large stock (cattle) are at the Ondonga grazing area mainly called Ombuga in the Okatyali constituency, and three people are employed to care for each practice.
He now grows vegetables on a drip irrigation system, and has 50 paw paw trees and over 300 strawberry plants, which he is already harvesting.
“My dream has always been not to enjoy the comfort of employment until retirement, but employment should be a stepping stone. My idea was to get involved in livestock. However, financing was an issue for me since I had to do self-financing.
Therefore, crop farming was ideal for me,” he said.
His journey kicked off in 2015 when he started a small garden on a piece of land he was given by his grandmother. At the time, he was in the employ of Namibian Sun. “It was a distressing activity when news stories were not coming right and I still had to take care of the garden.
But as time went on, gardening developed into a passion, and I could produce food enough for the family.
“Later, neighbours also started buying, and I devoted much of my resources to the project and could grow a variety of vegetables and plant more fruit trees,” continued Nandjato.
In 2019, the business made use of a Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform subsidy programme, which helped to boost the initiative.
The business also benefited from a donation by the Environmental Investment Fund, which assisted with drip irrigation pipes.
As with any thriving enterprise, Nandjato’s business does face challenges. While he is able to overcome many of them, there are those that are persistent and simply refuse to go away. “The main challenge facing not only me but many other practitioners in different sectors is access to finance to enable us to grow our projects.
Our economy has a huge credit gap that denies many people opportunities to grow their businesses. Little is done to assist, especially in the form of credit. Secondly, for me as a gardener, water shortage is a problem,” stated Nandjato.
On achievements, the budding entrepreneur said he has managed to get some of his products into major retailers, which generated more buying power for his business.
“I managed to produce fruits and vegetables of the best quality, and we were able to supply some of them to major retailers such as Woerman Brock, Spar, OK and Pick ‘n Pay.
Nandjato believes that with persistence and a ‘never-say-never’ attitude, everything is possible. He encouraged business-minded individuals to highly consider agriculture in an attempt to eradicate food insecurity.