Siphiwe Sithole of African Marmalade: Indigenous African crops

Tell us a little about yourself!

I am Siphiwe Sithole, I am a farmer that focuses on indigenous African crops, produces seeds, and aggregates harvests from a network of farmers across the country. I grew up in Mpumalanga, studied at Rhodes, and other institutions. I've worked as a marketer for many years before venturing into farming later in life.

How did you start doing what you are doing now? 

Getting into farming was triggered by my stay in Cape Town more than 15 years ago. The struggle for food, I mean the type of food I needed was real. I could not find pumpkins leaves, amaranth, Bambara beans, etc.

I then realised that if I am struggling to get food in the city then the situation must be even worse for African expats. The second trigger was my travel to different African countries for work. The food was nicer, tastier, cheaper and naturally grown. It was also more like what I grew up eating. Those factors let me to explore getting into farming. I applied to the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2015 and I made it into their inaugural intake, went through the program, received a $5000 seed capital grant and that gave me the boost to leave my job and do what I am doing now.

What are you most proud of in this process? 

I am most proud of our seed bank which is extensive, well catalogued and is a symbol of hope to many that we can restore our food system. The work around the seedbank has led us to meet a diverse network of people and is the anchor of our business.

What is the most helpful piece of advice you received when you were just starting out? 

The best advice I received was that I needed to focus and give the business my undivided attention. The person to said if you do too many things in between you will drip your business to death. Ever since I started I chose to focus, I read more, visited places that will help me to expand my knowledge on indigenous farming methods, crops, food, pest control, food preservation, etc. I just imbibed all the knowledge I could get. I told myself in a few years I will be the guru in this space. I chose to play a meaningful role in this space and stuck to it.

What advice would you like to give to others who are younger/earlier on their journey? 

Find the right reason why you want to pursue what you are going to do. When you have a valid reason it becomes easy to focus, recharge your batteries, go back, pull yourself up, stay motivated and continue to believe in what you do even if everybody doubt the viability and future.

A comment on growing and eating in South Africa

Whoever controls the seeds, dictates what you eat. I have learnt that we are free to eat from what has been preselected for us and made available whether it is the seeds you can buy to grow your own food, or the options you have in retail outlets or the menus in restaurants. There is politics in food, someone somewhere has long decided what is food for you.