Diversification is the secret to commercialisation

Jaco Beyers, managing director of John Deere, sponsors of the Mzansi Young Farmers Indaba, has called on young people to take advantage of what they are offering in making farmers’ operations easy and run smoothly. Meanwhile, the cream of the crop, trailblazers, and farmers who started off as small-scale subsistence farmers and quickly climbed the ladder to become large-scale commercial farmers, told young delegates that the secret to their success was diversification.

“We are here today because we want to paint a picture and share a vision of where we think agriculture can be. We want to walk with you on the path you intend to take in the space,” Beyers said.

He highlighted the importance of using developed mechanisation to ease mass production for crop farmers. He said if farmers invested in good mechanisation, they can also produce greater yields which ultimately leads to better profits.

“When using new tech, you need to make sure that it is as efficient as possible, so farmers need to now move from just basic equipment to commercialisation, but equipment that helps them supply better produce from their farms,” he added.

Don’t try do too much

A panel discussion followed Beyer’s inspirational address. KMF Farm Holding founder, Dr Obakeng Mfikwe encouraged farmers to diversify, focusing on a stable commodity offering.

“My advice to farmers who want to diversify is: do not try to do more than three commodities because it’s not about how much you can have on the farm, but more about how much you can handle,” said KMF Farm Holding founder, Dr Obakeng Mfikwe.

As a former medical doctor and an owner of five farms, Mfikwe believes smart diversification can help a small-scale farmer develop into a commercial farmer. His secrete to diversification, however, is making sure that while diversifying, the farmer is able to generate income from stable commodities.

Diversifying wisely

Mfikwe explained that as a macadamia farmer, his industry gives him a total of 11 years to reach crop maturity, however, he is able to make a profit within the fifth year of his cycle. This is because he introduced different kinds of crops onto his farm which produce large yields quickly.

“We’ve introduced all different kinds of things, but typically they are impacting the farm. I will do anything to support this money-hungry industry,” he said.

Sharing the same sentiments as Mfikwa is the director of Yende and Partners, Hlobisile Yende, who started off as only a livestock farmer but is now also a crop farmer and butternut producer to local markets. She believes investing in research has helped her understand climate and soil types better.

“I’m on a 1 064-hectare livestock farm and we have no water in the area that I’m in, it’s literally dry,” she said. “So I did my own research and then I discovered that butternut would work in this climate. We started with just planting one hectare with no irrigation and just rain before learning to understand the seasons,” she said.

Yende has now also incorporated bee farming into her business, which is complemented by grain plants. She said farmers should not only diversify production and yield but should diversify with products that can complement each other

“The farm needs to be financially sustained and it should not just be about introducing new things all the time, but it should also be about being stable, and by the grace of God, the bees are!” she said.

Managing the risks

Owner of Korema Farm in Winterveldt near Pretoria Kobela Mokgohloa added that managing risks on the farm when trying to diversify is crucial. As a crop farmer, he has managed to move from farming tomatoes and green peppers to farming cucumbers and commercially exporting to international markets. He believes tightening risk management measures on small detail has helped him.

“I make sure to look into risk management,” he said, “I used to build greenhouses, but we decided to increase the size of the height of the greenhouse by two meters to support the larger yield and that needed me to calculate the risks.

“What I do is to make sure to manage the risks by paying attention to the small detail which has helped me,” he said.

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