Zimbabwe farmer's Limousin revival

After 25 years working as a computer engineer in South Africa, Ndumiso Sibanda returned to his Zimbabwean roots to fulfil a steely vow made in 2007: to bring the Limousin breed back to Matabeleland South. Trading London-trained technical skills for cattle breeding, Sibanda transformed his farm, Phikelela Limousins, into a model of modern efficiency.

- Clemence Manyukwe reports.

Zimbabwean farmer Ndumiso Sibanda spent nearly 25 years working as a computer engineer in South Africa after having trained at the University of London. However, his farming roots and lifelong passion for cattle breeding eventually pulled him back to the land in his home country.

After completing his undergraduate studies in the UK, Sibanda came back to Zimbabwe in 1992 and worked for a few years as a lecturer at the National University of Science in Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city.

He then moved to South Africa in 1996, where he worked as a computer engineer in the private sector. Raised on a farm in Gwatemba in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland South province, Sibanda spent his childhood herding cattle and tending crops, nurturing a deep-rooted passion for farming that he carried with him into adulthood. As such, wherever he travelled in South Africa, he made a point of observing the farms around him, absorbing insights and practices that he hoped would one day benefit his own farming operation in Zimbabwe.

At the time, Sibanda already owned a 40ha farm in Umzingwane, Matabeleland South. He has since returned to the farm, where he now works full time and is steadily building a Limousin stud called Phikelela Limousins.

Phikelela is the Ndebele word for 'persevere', which is something all farmers must do.

Sibanda, who is popularly known as 'Phikelela 2' by locals, began producing Brahman-type cattle in 2001, later adding the Limousin. However, as he was not yet working on the farm full time, he was struggling to make the business a success. Infrastructure challenges, such as unreliable water resources and inadequate security on the farm, made it particularly difficult for Sibanda to run a successful operation.