Thandiwe Mchunu is tapping into her background as a chemical engineer to turn food waste into compost for her emerging farm.
Born in the agriculturally vibrant village of Mahlongwa, near Umkomaas in KwaZuluNatal's south coast, Mchunu says her decision to study chemicals was to help marginalised communities, particularly women, to produce food cheaper.
The 38-year-old believes that agriculture, like everything, revolves around chemical engineering.
With a solid foundation in growing crops that was laid by her late mother, Mchunu left her job in 2018 to work on her 22-hectare farm, which she leased from a local tribal authority.
While working full-time, she discovered that the majority of industries produced waste that could be used to make compost, but instead that waste ended up at landfill sites.
Mchunu wishes to use her expertise to make compost that will benefit emerging farmers. She grows a variety of vegetables and sells them to the local shops and the community. Her farm employs 10 people seasonally.
"I'm passionate about farming. It has followed me since I was a child and through my career. Wherever I go, I always make sure I have a pot plant to grow something. It fascinates me to watch a plant grow until harvest," Mchunu says.
With sponsorship from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Mchunu is pursuing a Master's degree in chemical engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is using her farming methods for her research.
While she currently produces a small amount of compost, her main objective is to work with food-processing businesses to bring large amounts of organic waste to her farm so she can use it to make compost through her waste management company, TMGG.
