Delmas — On the outskirts of Delmas, where job opportunities are limited and youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, 20-year-old Nokwanda Prettygirl Msomi, is setting up Prettygirl Integrated Farm — not as a side hustle, but as a professionally registered agricultural enterprise designed to generate sustainable income and employment.
Her journey into agriculture is rooted in early exposure, deliberate training and a conscious decision to treat farming as a regulated, skills-based profession rather than a fallback option. “Agriculture was always around me,” she says. “Even before I knew I would choose it as a career.”
Designed as an integrated operation, the farm is structured to support multiple livestock activities rather than relying on a single commodity. While still in its early stages, the business is positioned to supply households, small businesses and formal markets.
Msomi’s connection to agriculture began long before she owned land or registered a business. She grew up in a household closely connected to farming. Her father works at Afgri Animal Feeds, exposing to the commercial side of livestock nutrition, while her mother previously worked on a farm and her grandmother kept cattle in earlier years, and fruit trees were a permanent feature at home.
It was in 2021 when Msomi began selling meat door to door in her community. What might have appeared as a temporary hustle served a more strategic purpose for her. Through informal sales, he tested customer demand, learned pricing dynamics and understood local consumption patterns. The income also helped her raise start-up-capital.
The experience confirmed her belief that agriculture could work commercially at a local level, while still serving the community directly.
Crucially, Msomi never intended to remain informal. After completing her schooling at Swartklip Combined School, she pursued formal agricultural training at eThekwini and Buhle’s Farmers Academy. There, she obtained qualifications in animal health, livestock production and layer house management, prioritising technical competence before launching production.
“Passion alone is not enough in farming. If you want access to formal markets and to maintain animal-health standards, you must be trained and compliant,” she says for her training was not symbolic. It was a requirement for credibility, compliance and long-term sustainability.
Using savings from her early trading and with support from her family, Msomi registered Prettygirl Integrated Farm, formally transitioning from informal sales to a professional agricultural enterprise. Although it is unusual for a small-scale entrant, she prioritised registration and compliance before production began. This allowed her to establish operational systems, biosecurity measures and regulatory structures from the outset.
Operating in a male-dominated sector as a young woman has not been without challenges. Msomi says she was often doubted, with some questioning whether she would see the project through.
Instead of being discouraged, she persisted. Today, the farm is fully equipped, operational systems are in place. Msomi’s approach challenges the perception of farming as unskilled manual labour. Her journey positions modern agriculture as a business that demands planning, compliance and technical expertise — qualities often overlooked in discussions about youth employment.
