Meet Dr Kaunda Tamara, Medical Doctor turned Farmer

By Winston Muleba JR 

Deciding on a career path can be one of the most important choices some people make in life. It is believed that a career that one is not only successful in, but also enjoy doing will affect all aspects of their life in a positive way. But do people explore all the options before making a decision? 

Well, the fact is one question that may get ignored by many people looking to start a new career, or simply entering the job market for the first time, is whether or not they want to be an entrepreneur or an employee. In fact, most people struggle with the difference between the two because they only saw employment as the choice that was available for them. 

The common scenario is many people are often encouraged to find a great job and not to think about creating their own employment by becoming business owners. 

Knowing the difference between employment and business mindset is crucial to understanding which option would work better for you as an individual, and how being an employee or a business owner can suit your own personality and goals. 

Today's guest is Dr Kaunda Tamara. She shares how she switched from a medical profession to farming. 

Tamara, Director of Billionaires Farmer Agric Solutions says there is huge cash in farming and she is encouraging more young people not to look for jobs but to invest in farming. Billionaires Farmer Agric Solutions is a one stop centre for all seedlings.

She says she grew up at the farm. 

“I was born in Chinsali, Muchinga province. I grew up at the farm and my Dad taught us that farming is business at a very tender age. We would produce and my Mother would sell. The money we realized was then used for our upkeep and school fees,” says Tamara.

Tamara adds that after school she would spend most of the time in the garden. 

“My school was 10km away from home and we would walk to and from school every weekday but after school my siblings and I were obligated to take care of our portion of the garden. My father used to grow bananas, cabbages, sugar cane, tomatoes and other types of vegetables,” she adds. 

She explains that her parents taught her to take advantages of whatever resources may be available. 

“I was taught to be independent by my family as a woman not to wait for someone to make my life better and use whatever little resources available to make my life and other people's lives better 2004,” explains Tamara. 

Tamara says she pursued her degree in China. 

“I passed my grade 9 exams then went to Chipembi Girls Secondary School in Chisamba. In 2007, I completed my grade 12 and in 2009 I was given a Scholarship to China to study Clinical Medicine,” she says adding that but 21 days before she graduated her mother died: “I lost my mother due to stroke and hypertension which I believe many Zambians are suffering from. The local general hospital in Chinsali had no drugs that could have helped my mother then. She had to be brought to Lusaka but by the time she reached Lusaka her condition had worsened and later died. After the funeral I had to travel back to China for my graduation and successfully graduated in july 2015”. 

 She suggests that her internship orientation at UTH was horrible. 

“As a foreign trained Medical Doctor am supposed to do internship locally for at least 1-year plus, so I had gone to University Teaching Hospital (UTH) to have a glimpse of my supposed to be new working place, only to learn of the bad condition of our teaching hospital. It didn't look like a place a patient can recover from as you maybe aware most of the admitted patients are from poor homes and couldn't afford better medical services. Then I asked myself, what if I start working as a Doctor? What good am I doing for my people because I am supposed to be prescribing drugs that require better nutrition? ” Tamra laments. 

Tamara says agriculture would free Zambians from poverty. 

“My next thought was how do I help my people afford better health care and be free from poverty then I traced back to agriculture that made our lives better when I was growing up. I then asked myself, what if I made other country men and women realize the billions hidden in farming then most Zambians would be free from poverty but I thought again, talking itself would not have an impact but doing farming myself would send a signal to many Zambians who think their life can only be better if they have an official job which is not true. Most billionaires in Zambia are into farming business,” she suggests. 

She says investing in agriculture is one way of reducing the number of poverty related diseases. 

“Doctors in Zambia are very hard working and the load of the work they do is too much but we can help them by addressing the real cause of too many patients by reducing the number of poverty related diseases, this can only be archived by us citizens investing in farming as business and let each and every household be poverty free and that way we will reduce premature deaths of our people. It's cheaper to have a healthy population than purchase of drugs to treat our people,” says Tamara. 

Tamara says leaving her profession for farming is a message that there is huge cash in farming. 

“My not practicing medicine now is for the Zambian youths because if can not do one of the most high paying job in Zambia but instead go into farming is a message that there is huge cash in farming and I would encourage more young people not to look for jobs but invest in farming and lets become the job creators. Let's become the economical drivers of our nations,” she says.