When a car accident 14 years ago left Phumla Rasmeni paralysed from the neck down, it did not break her resilient spirit. Instead, it set her on a path to become a chicken farmer, and her business is on the verge of growing to the next level.
Rasmeni Farm is awaiting the fulfilment of an undertaking by the provincial department of rural development and agrarian reform to help her set up an abattoir.
The development will have a major positive impact on her business.
Former banker Rasmeni and her husband bought a 100ha farm near Bhisho in 2006, initially for crop farming.
“When I became paralysed, I realised the quality of my food would never be the same and that my employment prospects were virtually non-existent. But I decided my life was not over; it was only entering a new phase,” she said.
At the time of her accident, Rasmeni’s eldest daughter, Yolanda, was 21 and a first-year student at the University of Cape Town, her son Manyano in Grade 12 and her youngest son, Mihlali, in primary school.
“I still had a will and decided on farming. My mother was after all a keen farmer until she was 70,” Rasmeni said.
She bought the farm near Bhisho with the help of the department of land affairs and started selling potatoes from a the back of a vehicle.
“We were really struggling financially,” Rasmeni said.
“Then Nick’s Food gave us a lifeline. The owner remarked that he had never seen such determination and asked us to supply him with free-range chicken. He said he was prepared to take volumes for his Spar and five other Spars belonging to his relatives.”
But when she ordered 300 chickens from Limpopo and Cape Town, 75% of them died. Undeterred, Rasmeni bought another batch of 300, and this time they did well and sold out.
But another setback hit just two months before she was meant to deliver to Nick's Food.
“We found out the abattoir we had a deal with had been disqualified and closed down. So we sold to the public. I ordered what people wanted and we never looked back.”
Rasmeni asked her sons – Mihlali who had gone to study marketing in Belgium on an exchange programme, and Manyano, who had been working for a national media company – to come back to work on the farm.
She credits land affairs and the department of economic development and environmental affairs for helping Rasmeni Farms to build structures and buy tractors and trucks and the Small Enterprise Development Agency, which helped with marketing material.
“But we are not yet able to supply Nick's Food Spar because we don’t have an abattoir. We have a market, we are just short of an abattoir,” Rasmeni said.
She credited the Daily Dispatch business breakfast for helping open doors.
“The MEC was here within days after I spoke there. He promised the department would help build an abattoir and buy refrigerated trucks that go with it.”
“I want to be commercial by next year. My future plans are to develop community poultry farmers because I will need feeders to supply me, as well as under my brand, to big retailers. They want a reliable supply.” — siyam@dispatch.co.za
Next step for disabled farmer
Rasmeni Farm is awaiting the fulfilment of an undertaking by the provincial department of rural development and agrarian reform to help her set up an abattoir.
The development will have a major positive impact on her business.
Former banker Rasmeni and her husband bought a 100ha farm near Bhisho in 2006, initially for crop farming.
“When I became paralysed, I realised the quality of my food would never be the same and that my employment prospects were virtually non-existent. But I decided my life was not over; it was only entering a new phase,” she said.
At the time of her accident, Rasmeni’s eldest daughter, Yolanda, was 21 and a first-year student at the University of Cape Town, her son Manyano in Grade 12 and her youngest son, Mihlali, in primary school.
“I still had a will and decided on farming. My mother was after all a keen farmer until she was 70,” Rasmeni said.
She bought the farm near Bhisho with the help of the department of land affairs and started selling potatoes from a the back of a vehicle.
“We were really struggling financially,” Rasmeni said.
“Then Nick’s Food gave us a lifeline. The owner remarked that he had never seen such determination and asked us to supply him with free-range chicken. He said he was prepared to take volumes for his Spar and five other Spars belonging to his relatives.”
But when she ordered 300 chickens from Limpopo and Cape Town, 75% of them died. Undeterred, Rasmeni bought another batch of 300, and this time they did well and sold out.
But another setback hit just two months before she was meant to deliver to Nick's Food.
“We found out the abattoir we had a deal with had been disqualified and closed down. So we sold to the public. I ordered what people wanted and we never looked back.”
Rasmeni asked her sons – Mihlali who had gone to study marketing in Belgium on an exchange programme, and Manyano, who had been working for a national media company – to come back to work on the farm.
She credits land affairs and the department of economic development and environmental affairs for helping Rasmeni Farms to build structures and buy tractors and trucks and the Small Enterprise Development Agency, which helped with marketing material.
“But we are not yet able to supply Nick's Food Spar because we don’t have an abattoir. We have a market, we are just short of an abattoir,” Rasmeni said.
She credited the Daily Dispatch business breakfast for helping open doors.
“The MEC was here within days after I spoke there. He promised the department would help build an abattoir and buy refrigerated trucks that go with it.”
“I want to be commercial by next year. My future plans are to develop community poultry farmers because I will need feeders to supply me, as well as under my brand, to big retailers. They want a reliable supply.” — siyam@dispatch.co.za
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