In the biggest black farmer development project to date in South Africa, 751 livestock farmers completed a comprehensive training programme presented by Agri Enterprises, AgriSETA and the International Agricultural Academy for Africa (i3A).
Moments ago, during a live broadcast from Agri SA’s offices in Centurion in Gauteng, leaders of the “Farming for tomorrow” multi-year project lifted the veil on the rural development initiative. The project was led by Agri Enterprises, a subsidiary of Agri SA.
Agri Enterprises chief executive Omri van Zyl described it as a very important development for South African agriculture because most new era farmers do not have exposure to the right information, data and genetic improvement schemes.
“It is very important to create a knowledge economy in South Africa. So, from just that perspective, there’s a knowledge economy gap that we have filled with this project,” he said.
Van Zyl furthermore said it was critically important to address some of the underlying issues still facing the country’s up-and-coming black farmers. This included “community and family issues” along with access to land and market, amongst others.
“Part of our programme was to address things like financial literary, [something that] basically doesn’t exist in many of these [farmer] cases. Through this project we’ve helped farmers with financial literacy, agricultural management etc. This is only a start and there are many more emerging farmers that we can still reach and [in whose lives we can] make a difference.”
Training and development lead at Agri Enterprises, Sulaimaan Patel, said they focused on three critical livestock value chains: wool sheep, particularly in the Eastern Cape, beef cattle and goat farming. Collectively, these industries contribute about R30 billion per year to the South African economy.
Patel said the project focused on livestock farming because of its significant cultural value.
“Given the cultural significance, there are large numbers of animal units that belong to rural farmers. So, we deemed it appropriate to start off with livestock farmers given that most rural farming activities are focused on livestock,” he explained.
Positioning black farmers for success
While most of Mzansi’s agricultural transformation initiatives are focused on the advancement of small-scale farmers, the “Farming for tomorrow” project was designed to strategically position black farmers for large-scale, commercial success.
In addition to the honing of their technical skills, participants received leadership, management, and entrepreneurial training which included business planning, identifying opportunities, market access, and understanding company structures.
Patel described this as “the most comprehensive approach” to assist up-and-coming farmers to date. Extensive research was done on the operations of participating farms. “These farmers were located [in various parts of] the country. There was quite a comprehensive selection criterion. This was based on current size of operation, number of employees, current market access and linkage to the Agri SA partnership network.”
From the data collected, the Agri SA and i3A teams also assisted farmers to officially register their companies with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). WhatsApp and social media platforms were also used to distribute weekly and monthly updates.
This, after project research revealed that farmers did not have sufficient market information on, among others, pricing strategies, market access opportunities, commodity fluctuations, funding opportunities, and disease outbreaks in their respective areas.
Meanwhile, Agri Enterprises commended AgriSETA chief executive Dr Innocent Sirovha and his team for financing the project.
Speaking to Food For Mzansi, Sirovha pointed out that the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) emphasised the importance of “inclusive growth” by increasing farmer participation. It also underscored the significance of growing the contribution of black farmers and black-owned agribusinesses across the value chain.
“AgriSETA is therefore key to ensuring this, not only from a financial perspective, but from an ethical point of view. However, we cannot do it alone and strategic partnerships such as this, with Agri SA and Agri Enterprises, help us fast-track what we call absolute empowerment,” said Sirovha.
He added that mentorship remained key for successful skills transfer, and to ensure continuity of biodiversity in the agricultural sector.
“Livestock farming is no less scientific than plant production, as to produce good strong livestock requires similar expertise, albeit in a different discipline of the sector. So, to have a mentorship programme to train young black farmers serves not only to upskill them, but to improve the quality of the livestock we produce.”
Patel reaffirmed Agri Enterprises’ commitment to the developmental of the country’s up-and-coming farmers. As the organisation’s rural development team, they plan to continue to source funding and other resources for these farmers to grow and prosper.
