Although South African farmer Kepas Melodi started small in his back yard, now he supplies fresh green beans to the Shoprite Group, one of the biggest retailers in South Africa. In the early 2000s Melodi worked as a foreman at a fresh produce market in Hazyview, Mpumalanga. There was a spinach shortage and Melodi started planting spinach in his own backyard.
Melodi's farming side hustle proved to be worth it as he started making more money from it than at his actual job. In 2006, the farmer procured six hectares of land and left his job to focus solely on growing his spinach farming business.
After farming spinach for years, Melodi felt he wanted to move on to crops that he could harvest almost all year round, and spinach wasn't really that. "Spinach went very well. I still plant it, but it doesn't sell well enough. The amount of supply changes as seasons change, so with green beans you can plan how much you want to harvest in a year, and prices don't fluctuate that much. There's a huge gap in the beans market, that's why I went there.”
As of 2013, Melodi, who now owns 24 hectares of land and has nine permanent employees, started supplying fresh produce to Freshmark. He now supplies green beans and other vegetables such a butternut, tomatoes, chilies, and cabbage, to hundreds of Shoprite and Checkers outlets within Gauteng.
Source: businessinsider.co.za
