Small-scale farmers in the North West, said some of the challenges they face which impede their growth are a lack of capital, climate change, transport and labour.
This emerged at a three-day seminar in Sun City called the Provincial Agricultural Market Access Summit and hosted by the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Dard) to try and address challenges faced by small scale farmers trying to enter into a market dominated by established commercial producers.
The summit, held under the theme “Linking North West Smallholder Farmers to Market, brought the mining industry, the hospitality sector and farmers together to forge means to broaden the basket of agricultural commodities and value-added products that are intended for local and export markets.
Seitshiro Marumule, from Sannieshof near Delareyville, who specialises in grain, maize and small white beans, confirmed that small scale producers face many challenges but not all can be resolved by Dard.
According to Marumule labour is the number one challenge because farming requires a skills set that understands that plans change daily and that strategies are influenced by many factors and there are budget constraints to contend with.
“The truth is that the challenges lie with us as farmers, it’s difficult for the department to resolve them. The issue of capital is one of the main challenges that we have, remember agriculture is a sector that is growing everyday and technology is taking a very big stand in the industry.
“You speak with the department today that you need machinery, only to find out that the very same machinery needs to be monitored in order to perform to its ultimate best. Climate change is one of the major challenges that we have,” said Marumule.
Mpho Bogatsu, a Beekeeper from Ngaka Modiri Molema, who produces honey, said one of the challenges she faces on a daily basis is the vandalism of her bee hives.
Bogatsu requires land and she has been pleading with the department to assist her with getting a farm outside of the village, where she can place her bees and produce honey peacefully.
A farmer from Leagajang in Moruleng village, Lesego Moeng said she produces chilli, processes it and makes sweet chilli sauce. But her major challenge is the heatwaves as it burns her chilli plants and makes it difficult for her to meet the demands of her customers.
Leagajang said they have planted chilli at the back of her yard and when it’s ready, they process everything from scratch, package it and sell it as a sauce at Chesa Nyama outlets.
The Department encouraged smallholders to make farming a business as well as work hand-in-hand with the hospitality sector and mining industry to grow their business market opportunities.
The MEC for Dard Desbo Mohono brought in the mining industry because it does a lot in the agricultural sector, even though it’s not coordinated, she said.
“This summit should coordinate everyone. Farmers have difficulty approaching their counterparts as the road infrastructure is bad so that’s where the mining sector comes in to say, how can they best assist.
“Farmers don’t have water and there’s a pipe at the mines which passes through community households who don’t have water, so I want the mine to redirect that pipe to go through the community, as we can’t have communities who don’t have water.
“Mining has land which is not utilised, and one of the mine’s which presented here yesterday, said they had given 900 plus hectares of land to a cooperative, here in Bojanala, that is not yet utilised.
“At the end of this summit everyone should have been coordinated under one roof. We’ll have a committee which has representatives from the mining industry, hospitality sector, farmers, government and everyone that matters, so that they can meet consistently in order to follow up,”said Mohono.
