A man with years of experience in the insurance sector took the boldest step of his life by quitting his job to go farming.
Elia Kamati, a loan beneficiary of Agribank’s Emerging Farmers Retail Financing Product (ERFP), left his formal employment to live his passion, which is farming.
He is currently a full-time farmer in the Mpungu district of the Kavango-West region, where he farms with livestock, mostly cattle and goats.
“I was a permanent employee for one of the insurance companies for 15 years and in 2007, I resigned from my full-time job to concentrate on my dream and passion which is farming and now I am a full-time farmer,” Kamati proudly narrated.
Through the ERFP loan from Agribank, he bought 38 heifers and two bulls, which enabled him to officially start with his farming business. He said one of the challenges he faced in the beginning was the lack of farming skills.
However, he attended Agribank’s training events and workshops that equipped him with skills on rearing livestock and enabled him to thrive in his farming business. Kamati also highlighted the lack of a market to sell his livestock as one of the challenges.
“Lack of a market to sell our livestock is a challenge for us here in the Kavango-West region. We only have African Meat Supply company as our main customer and few individuals who buy our livestock. So, we really need a big market to sell our animals,” he said.
According to him, the income from the farm has enabled him to send his children and grandchild to attend private schools as well as to improve his family’s living standard.
This emerging commercial farmer has five permanent employees on the farm and from time to time he recruits between 10 to 15 casual workers.
“Farming has really improved my way of living. I have acquired a lot of things, I have a tractor, I have cars and many other things that I acquired just through my agriculture business which I am currently doing,” Kamati said.
In the photo: Emerging commercial farmer Elia Kamati proudly showing off some of his cattle.
