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Archive -Fishing and Agriculture

Farmer’s profile: Wilby Confiance |17 November 2017

‘Love and patience are key to making farming profitable and rewarding’

 

Wilby Confiance is one of the proud and hard-working owners of one of the many farmlands at Val d’Andorre on Mahé. The 36-year-old grew up on an 8000m2 farm belonging to his parents, along with his brothers and sisters. According to Wilby, this is where his interest and passion for farming began and remains to this day.

Following his early school days at Baie Lazare and Anse Boileau schools, Wilby attended the National Youth Service (NYS), after which he began studying at the then Farmers Training Centre (FTC) – which is now called Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (SIAH) -- with the aim of eventually giving his parents a helping hand with the farm.

Upon completing his training at FTC however, Wilby felt that he was not ready to start working at the farm and decided to gain some work experience elsewhere first to better prepare himself for the tasks that lay ahead. He subsequently joined the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) where he worked for a total of five years and was promoted as the supervisor of the organisation’s Quality Control Laboratory. Following this, he also worked at the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation as well as the Seychelles Pilgrims Security firm before he finally joined his family at the farm.

On an average day in his working life, Wilby recounts that he wakes up at 5 or 6am and following his morning prayers, he immediately starts work on the farm, beginning his day with a short inspection and delegating the day’s duties to his workers. He retires back home to rest around 6pm on most evenings. This is his routine from Monday through to Friday. On Saturdays, he can be found selling his hard-earned produce at the market.

Wilby adds that it is only after some additional work on Sunday morning that he allows himself some time to rest or engage in some of his favourite leisure activities like watching his preferred TV series, fishing, going to the beach or attending food markets held at district level. For Wilby, Sunday afternoons are strictly reserved for relaxing and enjoyment as well as taking his mind off work for a while.

The well-kept farm concentrates on mixed farming, producing a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, pumpkin, bitter gourd, cassava and sweet potato. Wilby has adopted a variety of new farming technologies such as micro-jet irrigation, micro sprinkler, overhead sprinkler and motorised sprayer which all help to make the work efficient and contribute towards the quality of the farm’s produce which are eventually sold to members of the public at the market and also to some local businesses.

Some of the main challenges Wilby faces in his farming business are a lack of local skilled labour, water shortages, pests affecting the crops, as well as a lack of some basic agricultural input.

Wilby remarks that he finds it disappointing that many of the youth joining the farming industry today are more interested in administrative roles rather than operational ones. His advice to anyone joining this profession is that despite the challenging and discouraging times, perseverance is key and in the end, you will find that it was worth the effort.

 

Despite the growing trend in the use of biological farming products, Wilby says that these products are more expensive than chemical ones and have slower effects, allowing crops to be affected by various pests and diseases such as the hairy caterpillar (senir plim).

When asked what motivates him the most, Wilby says that his determination to continue his family business is what drives him first and foremost, especially for all the effort and devotion that his parents have put into the farm over the years.

For the future, Wilby hopes to expand the farming business by employing more workers and attempt to target additional clients.

Wilby admits that through his family, he has learnt some of the most important planting techniques and one of these is that you cannot care for only one aspect of your crops - all round care is important, and above all, love and patience are key in making farming profitable and rewarding. He recounts that one of his customers told him that a batch of vegetables purchased from him lasted three weeks in the fridge and it is moments like these that are the most rewarding for him. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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