by Olwetu Batyi | Jul 30, 2020 | atp1
Young Black Entrepreneur
YOUNG people are making strides in the Y agricultural industry not just as emerging farmers but in the commercial level as well. One of those young people is Sinelizwi Fakade, born and bred in the rural village of Upper Tabase in KSD Local Municipality, OR Tambo District. “I’m born into a small family of two children and a single mother who has sacrificed all she had so that we could become who we are today, the young black commercial farmers leading the agricultural change EC deserves”.
“My academic career has developed around rural Development, agricultural extension, rural resource management, food security, crop and animal production, farm business management just to name a few. My siblings are fully entrenched in the family business, they too span an academic profile consisting of mixed farming, food security and sustainable agriculture”, he said. Fakade was employed for four years as a provincial coordinator under the Grain SA Farmer Development Program.
His main key performance area was to develop, up-skill, mentor and train rural based farmers how to commercially produce Grain crops on land they owned or had access to. To achieve this, he had to develop a team of young people who would buy in and walk this journey with him.
“I advocated and led the signing of a formal partnership between Grain SA and DRDAR that would allow me to adopt and mentor 18 young agricultural graduates who qualified within the institutions of EC. Furthermore, this agreement would assist all farmers under the Grain SA program to get free mechanization on all their hectares which had inputs from the Grain SA program.
“This partnership would go on and commercially develop over 3000 black farmers, develop 30 black contractors into professionals and commercial operators on rural and owned land. This would further put 4500ha under commercial maize production as this was the dominant crop planted by farmers. The 18 young agricultural graduates were now well trained and well skilled mentors who would assist me in driving the commercialization of grain production across four districts (OR Tambo, Joe Gqabi, Amathole, Chris Hani).
Alfred Nzo was monitored by my colleagues then, who were also beneficiaries of this historical partnership between the two institutions” said Fakade. In August 30 2019, Sinelizwi resigned from his job as his dream of becoming a young black commercial Farmer was realised. He said private funders backed him financially after at least 30 attempts to access funding. Finally, he got a breakthrough to become what he always wanted, a high performing black commercial farmer who would strive to be part of the change EC needed to claim its rightful place in the agricultural sector nationally.
“Farming well, farming smartly and sustainably was one of my personal objectives. Parallel to that was to contribute towards driving commercialization and rural Development and not alienating myself from how the provincial government envisioned this process,” he said. Currently he is farming on 1100ha in Joe Gqabi District, producing 750ha dryland grain (maize, soyabeans, sorghum and millet). Plans are at advanced stages in introducing wheat into the operation as of the 2020/ 2021 production season.
Grain production will be increased from 750 to 1600ha this coming season on the farm and leased farms nearby. For all his hard work, Fakade praises his mother for playing a very big role in his success, “All of this became a reality due to the sacrifices of our mother whom today is also a qualified agriculturalist. One of his objectives was to make his mother retire from a teaching career of 25 years and then pay for her fees to go and study a three-year agricultural diploma and join him in developing the commercial farming operation of theirs.
“My whole family is actively involved in the farming operation and we are commercially producing grains. It’s something I hold very close to my heart ” Fakade said.
Fakade is also chairperson of the board at Ukhanyo Farmer Development an entity 100% owned by young agricultural graduates. “The entity is 10-months old and already has a record of providing inputs to farmers amounting to 300ha last year predominantly in OR Tambo District.
“Through their model, farmers can access production inputs cheaper than the normal rates paid for them in commercial outlets. They are able to do this through the networks he has built in his career. They are going into their 2nd season and all what they have done to date has been funded from their pockets as UFD members,” he said.
by Olwetu Batyi | Jul 30, 2020 | atp1
INTERFACING SOME PERSPECTIVES ON FOOD SECURITY WITH THE NUTRITION DEMANDS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Since the dawn of the new South Africa in 1994, the South African government had introduced numerous remedial food security policies and programmes which sought to address the damage done to black agriculture by many decades of neglect from the apartheid regime. In the Eastern Cape Province, distinguished food security programmes included household food production and the cropping programme. Funding for these food security programme is sourced from the provincial voted funds, and conditional grants in the names of Ilima / Letsema, Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme.
As outlined below, the focus areas for DRDAR’s food security programmes are; household food production, grain production, horticulture and fodder production.
• Households for the production of vegetables and poultry production inputs on a limited scale for household food production. In the current financial year an amount of R20 million is available for this program.
• Grain production. This is a major enterprise which takes biggest slice of the budget on an annual basis, this financial year an amount of R 80 million is allocated for this purpose. The reason of such an initiative is that, maize is the staple food in the province and is also used to support livestock production e.g. poultry, piggery, smallstock and dairy. It is mainly produced in the Eastern part of the province in Alfred Nzo, O.R. Tambo and parts of Joe Gqabi
district. It is produced under dryland condition. The good part of this potential is that; it is produced where poverty levels are high.
• Horticulture. The Central and Western parts of the province have the potential to produce the horticultural crops. This category of the commodities has the potential to create decent jobs and the bulk of the produce is exported. The examples of these commodities are citrus, deciduous, pineapples and vegetables. An amount of R 22 million is allocated for this financial to support the growth and expansion of these commodities through production inputs and infrastructure.
Fodder production is one of the commodities that has been incorporated into the Food Security programme. Due to the persistent drought that has seriously affected the province, DRDAR has taken a decision to support the production of Fodder in the province. This financial year an amount of R 10 million has been set aside for the establishment of lucern production in the three districts: Amathole, Chris Hani and Sarah Baartman. The plan is to upscale the production of fodder in the subsequent seasons.
Not with standing the commendable strides made in rolling out these food security programmes, food insecurity still remains high, not only in the Eastern Cape Province, but in the whole country. Today, about half of the country’s human population is either food insecure or is at risk of food insecurity. At household level, the picture is also not impressive. Some 28% of households are at risk of hunger, while 26% are experiencing hunger.
by Olwetu Batyi | Jul 30, 2020 | atp1
PREPARATIONS OF THE NEXT MAIZE SEASON AVOIDING LOSSES DUE TO NORTHERN CORN LEAF BLIGHT DISEASE
by Olwetu Batyi | Jul 30, 2020 | atp1
Covid-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund
THE MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Nomakhosazana Meth today handed over vouchers to farmers as part of the Covid-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund set up to ensure sustainable food production during and post the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development government allocated R1,2 billion to assist smallholder and communal farmers across the country.
Briefing the MEC ahead of the handover, Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Acting Chief Director, Dudu Nghona said the amounts given to farmers varied according to the needs of the farmers. Elated MEC Meth said the vouchers were life changing to farmers who had been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Now that the farmers have received this funding, life will never be the same for them. I am glad that we also have young people who have benefited out of this.
” Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Poultry Farmers Association Mhlobo Mbane said he was grateful for the funding and urged the department to conduct strict monitoring and evaluation so as to ensure that the vouchers were used for what they are meant for. He also thanked the Department’s Extension and Advisory Services for ensure that farmers received the applications on time even under strict Level 5 lockdown regulations. Another farmer, Nonkululeko Nduzulwana who runs a poultry and piggery farm in Buffalo City Metro received vouchers to the tune of R50 000. She said the vouchers would be used to buy more broilers and pumps for the farm. Nduzulwana’s farm supplies ANCA Poultry in Stutterheim with eight-week-old chicks every two months.
“We are grateful for the support we have received. The vouchers will go a long way in supporting us to buy more broilers and other supplies for the farm. Our dream is to increase our capacity to 300 000 because we have the market and demand,” said Nduzulwana. 72-year-old Myra Nogaga who runs a farm of 1000 layers said she really needed “this support. I feel ‘wow’. I have joy in my heart. We had experienced hardships during the lockdown because our layers died as we could not access feed. I lost about 10% of my layers. Now with these vouchers worth R50 000, I will be able to buy more. I am very grateful to government for this intervention.
” Out of the farmers who received vouchers was also 19-yearold Nomagcinandile Suduka who runs a small poultry farm in Great Kei Municipality. The teenager said she was elated to have receive vouchers to boost her poultry enterprise. “I’m going to buy more chickens as I have already build structures to accommodate more chickens. With these vouchers I will buy 100 more chickens”. Of the10618 applications in the province, 1622 applications were successful 556 of which were women while 217 were youths.
The total amount to be issued to farmers amounts to R65 694 654. Reasons for non-approval stem from non-compliance with the criteria such as the number of years in farming, proof of access to land, annual turnover from agricultural enterprise activities of not less than R 20 000, number of jobs created by the enterprise and proof of access to markets. To date the total number of 2612 vouchers for 875 applicants have been received. The vouchers are meant to buy feed, medication, fertiliser, and chemicals depending on the commodity of each applicant.
EASTERN CAPE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND AGRARIAN REFORM
SINCE the outbreak of COVID-19 that rapidly turned into a global pandemic, the agricultural sector is among those that were hard hit and subsequently, interventions were made by the government to alleviate the threatening effects. The assistance to the sector started with a R 1,2 billion disaster agricultural support fund from the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. The R1,2 billion was shared among all the country’s nine provinces and benefited a total of 1630 farmers in the Eastern Cape. To this date 1505 vouchers have been issued to farmers whose applications were successful. The applicants that did not qualify were reconsidered in phases two and three. In the Eastern Cape the distribution of the vouchers is managed by the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR).The DRDAR has also been making strides to ensure smooth running of the agricultural sector for sustainable food security. This saw the department distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to farmers across the province. The effects of COVID-19 have worsened the situation of the already struggling agricultural sector in the province. And to this end the department has developed what it has termed a ‘Sector Recovery Plan’ which includes giving support to household through he household security programme where 10 000 households were identified to receive agricultural inputs.. DRDAR is also supporting crop farmers with production inputs and mechanization for various commodities including maize, vegetables, citrus, deciduous fruit, pineapples, chicory and blue berries. The budget allocated for these crops amounts to R 107-million targeting 21 191 hectares of arable land.
by Olwetu Batyi | Jul 30, 2020 | atp1
Tips on winter cropping for Eastern Cape Farmers
CROPPING has always been a seasonal exercise that relies mostly on the type of crops and their aptness for that particular season in the field of agriculture but with the growing demand for food all year round, farmers have found themselves faced with a challenge to produce crops even in incongruous seasons
. Some farmers with the experience that has come over the years in crop production and emergence of technology have found ways to yield high quality produce regardless of seasonal changes. But emerging farmers, especially those who just turned commercial still struggle in seasons like winter where there is a dire shortage of water and extremely low temperatures.
To address this, the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the Eastern Cape which is the custodian of agriculture has embarked on an initiative to take emerging and subsistence farmers by the hand in the process of elevating them to successful farmers. This includes all year round crop production.
As MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Nomakhosazana Meth says “everything else can stop except agriculture” and with the Winter season upon us, the department is using its specialists in crop production to share pointers on cropping during winter with special focus on types of crops suitable for the period and how farmers can best overcome the challenges that come with the season.
According to the department’s agricultural scientist, Simphiwe Mhlontlo, climatically, the coastal part of the Eastern Cape is a transition between the subtropical climatic conditions of KwaZulu Natal and the Mediterranean conditions of the Western Cape. And this is one of the reasons why the coastal areas such as Port St Johns receive long hot conditions and high rainfall in Summer, with very mild Winter.
“However, the interior is characterized by very cold winter during the months of June, July and August; and July has been observed to be the coldest month in most areas,” said Mhlontlo. The average temperatures in winter in most inland areas can drop to as low as 2°C while during the summer months of December, January and February the highest average temperature is around 35ºC and is normally recorded during January. The province receives most of its rainfall between October and April after which there is a usual decline from May to September and the most minimal rainfall received is usually in July. High frost incidences are usually experienced in most inland and mountainous areas starting in May until July.
“Based on this, it becomes very difficult for farmers in the inland areas of the province to practice dryland winter cropping but can produce crops such as wheat, peas, onion, winter cultivars of cabbages, among others, under irrigation. Wheat is one of the grain crops that has been grown successfully in the past in areas such as Ncora Irrigation Scheme where temperatures met its vernalization (cold) requirements. In essence, vernalization is the cooling of seed during germination in order to accelerate flowering when it is planted,” Mhlontlo added.
In coastal areas with mild winter such as Port St Johns, farmers can increase their web by growing a variety of vegetable crops including green mealies.
Another benefit of growing crops in winter in cold areas is the reduced disease and pest outbreaks as the conditions are not conducive for their survival and the farmer will be saving as there will be less application of insecticides and eventually, less cost of production. Mhlontlo further advised farmers especially emerging farmers to conduct thorough research before buying seeds and seedlings so they can establish the difference between winter cultivars and others.
