Gauteng Smallholder June 2017 | Page 3

GAUTENG COMMENT, by Pete Bower MAGAZINE HOW TO MAKE YOUR PLOT PROFITABLE Vol 18 No 6 June 2017 PUBLISHED BY Bowford Publications (Pty) Ltd Established 1985 (Reg No 2004/019727/07) PO Box 14648, Bredell 1623 Tel: [phone] or 076 176-7392 Fax: [phone] website: www.sasmallholder.co.za facebook.com/gautengsmallholder PUBLISHER & EDITOR Pete Bower email: [email protected] RESEARCH EDITOR Vanessa Bower email: [email protected] GRAPHIC DESIGNER Mark Hageman email: [email protected] ADVERTISEMENT SALES Pete Bower email: [email protected] ADVERTISING RATES ( All Rates Full C o l ou r , incl VAT ) Full Page - R7480 Half Page - R 4 620 Quarter P - R2570 1/8 page - R1360 Smaller sizes: R 104 per col cm (Minimum size - 4 col cm) ( Black only: colour rate less 2 0% ) Booking discounts Payment lumpsum in advance. Not applicable to SuperSmalls. 3 insertions - less 10% 6 insertions - less 15% (other payment and discount options are available) Circulation More than 1 9 000 copies * distributed free through outlets in the Agricultural Smallholding settlements of Gauteng and adjoining provinces. * excluding on-line readers. By Mail To receive the Smallholder by mail send us a supply of stamped, self- addressed A4 envelopes. Or, subscribe for only R210 per year. See coupon in this edition. Online http://www.sasmallholder.co.za Copyright Title and contents protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher. Disclaimer While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the information in this journal, neither the Editor nor the Publisher can be held responsible for damages or consequences of any errors or omissions. The Publisher does not stand warranty for the performance of any article or service mentioned in this journal, whether in an advertisement or elsewhere. FRONT COVER Winter fodder alternatives on show in permanent displays of crops at the Nampo showgrounds outside Bothaville in the Free State Make tech work for us W e all know the problem: one of the major stumbling-blocks to a viable smallholder farmer sector, be it among long- established (white) smallholders or among newly-established (black) small farmers, is efficient access to viable markets in which to sell one's production. Note the terminology: that's not the same as access to big municipal markets, most of which nowadays profess to be supportive of small producers. As a result, there is an awful lot of land, much of it close to urban areas with large potential markets, and serviced by good infrastructure, that could be cultivated with crops or stocked with livestock that could be sold profitably ~ if only the owners had some means of communicating their sales needs to potential buyers, and some means of packing, storing, and transporting their produce to willing buyers. That this is true should be obvious to anybody who takes a look at traditional small- holding areas, or at newly-demarkated areas of emerging small farms: Field after field of land lies fallow, often even unmowed (and thus vulnerable to raging winter grass fires), with, periodically, no more than a couple of sheep or a horse or two grazing languidly. How much better could it be utilised for intensive small scale crop production of high- value species that require little space but much management, such as garlic, radish or lettuce. Or for housing of small stock such as broilers or rabbits. Or for aquaculture tanks producing tilapia as a protein source. Or for housing the milch-goats that feed a small boutique cheesery. For, one thing is for sure. If this was a country where land was at a true premium, and not merely an electioneering tool in the hands of corrupt politicians, you can bet your bottom dollar that such intensive production would be encouraged. This more than anything, therefore, is the devil-in-the-detail of a vibrant small farmer sector, which in turn is what will prevent the development of a small farmer sector from exercising its beneficial effects on unemployment, rural poverty levels and regional and national food security. So what can be done? Of course it should be obvious to all, but it is only now beginning to dawn on the government that bestowing land upon a person with no training or knowledge of agriculture is a recipe for a mess. So training and knowledge transfer in the form of courses, literature, videos and advice from extension officers is a starting point. Next, no farm ~ however big or small ~ is productive without a considerable invest- ment in capital items such as machinery, pumps, housing and fencing, and also in input costs such as fertilizer, seed, breeding stock, feed and medications. There are already channels through which qualifying emergent farmers can access soft loans for such development, but much more financial assistance and support is necessary if the development of a vibrant and meaningful small farmer sector is to be a success. Thirdly, and not necessarily in this order, new farmers need advice and support in choosing what it is they should grow. This does not only relate to physical attributes such as climate and soil quality, but more importantly should focus of marketing. How big is the potential market close by? What infrastructure is available to the farmer through which to sell his produce? And so on. But, finally, small farmers invariably come up against a hurdle that larger growers don't. They periodically run out of produce to sell because the land they have available is simply not big enough to enable them to have a year-round supply. This is often the biggest hurdle to smallholder success. And it's also a hu rdle that could be overcome, we believe, by nothing more sophisti- cated than a savvy kid developing an appropriate app for a smartphone. Zambian beekeepers have such a system on their phones and beekeepers in KwaZulu- Natal are adopting something similar. Bee products are, of course, a bit different from meat, fruit and vegetables in that they don’t require refrigeration and can be stored almost indefinitely. Small local co-ops here and there are already forming their own networks using nothing more sophisticated that Whatsapp. With a bit of imagination, some support from officialdom and clever marketing, a more sophisticated setup could, we believe, be developed to link growers, packers, middlemen, transporters and buyers so that a producer's erratic daily harvest could be combined with that of others, sold and delivered by a network of individuals working on messages passing over a cellphone network. And, linking such a system with a secure payment platform such as PayFast would take care of the money side, too. SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE GAUTENG SMALLHOLDER