In the quiet, unassuming village of Moletjie, Limpopo, Wendy Moshakga is not just farming soil — she is tilling hope, planting opportunity. Raised in Moletjie, she has carried with her the rhythms of rural life from youth; the knowledge that land, weather, seasons, community all craft one’s destiny.
She is known for Serage Holdings, her agricultural business that has grown from backyard operations to something much larger in vision. Growing vegetables (cabbages, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, onions, green peppers) she supplies local markets in and around Polokwane.
Also, Wendy is a founding member and the secretary of Sisters in Farming Cooperative, a collective of women farmers in Moletjie. Through this cooperative, she interlinks her farming journey with those of other women — sharing resources, knowledge, market access, and support.
Features of the Farm & Cooperative Model
What makes Wendy’s farm and her cooperative powerful include:
Diversity of crops: Moving beyond a single crop mindset. Vegetable production is varied.
Poultry farming: Wendy also works in poultry farming, with capacity for many chickens and even on-site processing.
Cooperative structure: Sisters in Farming doesn’t just combine efforts; it shares burden, risk, and reward. Market access, scaling up, meeting demand volumes — these are made possible through unity.
Local employment & food security: The farm contributes to job creation, especially during harvests, and supplies fresh produce into the local value chain.
Challenges
Wendy’s journey hasn’t been smooth. Here are some of the obstacles:
Weather unpredictability: Climate patterns, rain, droughts etc., affect yields.
Funding & capital: Access to capital, equipment gaps, and scaling up infrastructure remain tough.
Market access & scale: To compete well, consistent volumes and quality are required. Cooperatives help, but there are logistical, technical, and regulatory challenges.
Vision & Expansion
Wendy isn’t resting. Her plans point to growth, sustainability, deeper community impact:
Expanding land and scale: Serage Holdings is slated to scale up to 20 hectares in Polokwane Municipality.
Scaling youth / women's empowerment through agriculture: Through Sisters in Farming, Wendy is working not just for her business but for lifting up other women farmers.
Sustainability & food security: Her work is rooted in making sure rural communities don’t just survive but thrive: access to healthy food, employment, resilience.
Reflections & What It All Means
Wendy Moshakga’s farm is more than rows of cabbages and coops of chickens. It’s an expression of resilience, of defiance against limits. She is preserving tradition (rural farming, deep connection with land) while pushing forward: better scale, formal structures, cooperative models.
Her story reminds us that:
The past is foundation: Learning from what elders taught, the rhythms of community life, the necessity of hard work. These are not quaint relics—they are practical, powerful tools in her business.
Innovation comes from necessity: With limited resources, Wendy and her peers are improvising, collaborating, forming cooperatives, sharing know-how.
Community is the asset: Beyond profit, her farm is a social enterprise in many ways: bringing people together, creating shared purpose.
Looking Forward: Potential Areas for Growth
To push Wendy’s farm & cooperative further, these could be next steps:
1.Access to better infrastructure: Cold storage, packaging, transportation — reducing post-harvest losses.
2.Technical training & agronomic support: Soil health, pest management, climate smart techniques.
3.Better access to markets: Maybe formal contracts with retailers, exploring value-added processing.
4.Financial instruments: Micro-finance, grants, government subsidies, or impact investors.
5.Branding and social value narrative: How the farm and cooperative can be marketed not just for produce but for its mission — women empowerment, food security, sustainability.
Conclusion
Wendy Moshakga’s farm in Moletjie is a vivid testament to what grounded vision can do. What starts with a small plot, a few seeds, a bold idea, becomes movement when guided by community, determination, and purpose. Her story says: tradition matters, but so does innovation; that rural does not mean “behind”; that empowerment is not given, it’s grown.
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