Farming
Important role
Smallholder farming need to
improve efficiency
S
mallholder farmers should
place an emphasis on improving
efficiency, financial and farm
management skills to overcome the
significant challenges facing the
agricultural sector.
Dawie Maree, head of information
and marketing at FNB Agriculture, says
“smallholder farmers must not sit back,
wait and rely on support from state
programmes and agribusinesses, but should
rather proactively look for ways to develop
profitable farm operations through improved
farm management.”
He says that smallholder farmers have an
important role to play in ensuring household
food security and the overall growth of the
agricultural sector in South Africa and the
continent as a whole.
500m smallholders’ farms
According to a report by the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
there are about 500 million smallholder
farms worldwide and more than 2 billion
people depend on them for their livelihoods.
These small farms produce about 80 percent
of the food consumed in Asia and subSaharan Africa.
Maree says while there is still a lot of work
to be done by the Government and private
sector to develop these businesses from a
funding and support perspective, smallholder
farmers should ‘take the bull by the horns’
and adopt more efficient and sustainable
farming techniques in order to survive.
Many smallholder farmers that have access
to funding are still not taking advantage of
the vast knowledge and technology available
to increase crop yield and productivity.
For example, adopting techniques such as
selecting the right seeds and crop rotation to
increase yield and generate more income.
Resources
“Unfortunately, the reality is that input costs
will continue to increase and economic
conditions will not improve anytime soon.
Therefore, smallholder farmers will have to
use all the resources available to them to
increase their potential in order to survive,”
says Maree.
“Change doesn’t happen overnight.
Developing long term strategies to introduce
and implement changes will go a long way
to ensuring the sustainability of smallholder
farmers.”
Furthermore, smallholder farmers that aspire
to break into the commercial market must
remember that farming is a business. Optimal
management of the farm’s resources, finance
operations and production processes is
essential for growth.
Crops
“For instance, smallholder farmers that have
been financially impacted by droughts and
are concerned about meeting their debt
obligations should know when to approach
their bank for assistance. Similarly, the farmer
should know and understand the importance
of insuring crops during planting season.
These form part of the important aspects of
farm management,” adds Maree.
“It has never been more important for
smallholder farmers to focus on improving
farm management and exploring high yield
farming methods in order to survive tough
economic conditions,” concludes Maree.