9 February 2024
By: Charl van Rooyen
Integrity goes a long way in a successful business, Keneilwe Mabona from Standard Bank said on the second day of the inaugural African Farming Agri-Development Imbizo in Boksburg, attended by 200 farmers and agricultural experts.
Other good advice she gave to farmers is to diversify your business and to use capital and cash flow wisely. Be proactive and remain agile (stay aware). This ensures improved adaptability and better risk management and improves the speed and efficiency of business procedures. Continue to reinvent your business through regenerative agriculture, smart farming practices and research and development.
Mabona said South African agriculture grew by 14% between the second and third quarters of 2023. At 96,3 million hectares, the country has the second largest agricultural land area in Africa after Sudan.
There are about 40 000 farms and the biggest crop is grain, especially maize, barley, oats, sunflower and sorghum.
Looking at agri-business trends in 2024, Mabona said they included a global economic recovery, increasing geopolitical tension, softening of commodity prices, climate change and improvement in food security.
Nkosana Mtambo (Mtambo Farming): Farming is not just a hobby but a business. How you manage your cash flow is very important. I do contract work while I wait for my crop to grow and income from cattle to come in. Be patient. Look at the conditions – they determine what kind of animals you can farm with. Have discipline. Cut out the middleman. Start becoming the solution, don’t be part of the problem.
Praveen Dwarika (Afgri): We must make certain when we lend money to you that we will get it back. That is why we must ask questions to the farmer who applies for a loan.
Kallie Schoeman (Schoeman Boerdery): You must have a dream. That is where everything starts, even though the dream scares you, because agriculture is very difficult. Have passion and patience. Remember that nature will humble you. Never become arrogant. Stop talking about the negatives, like high input costs, and start listening to other people. What keeps me positive about agriculture is that I believe it will heal the land. It will start at the grassroots level. You must be part of the solution. If you are not at the table, you will be on the menu and then you will be eaten for breakfast. So, talk to people and influence them. Get up, dress up and speak up. While some people are saying the glass is half full, we are drinking from a half full glass.
Nhlanhla Mauku (Karan Beef): Many of our farmers do not have enough information. Also, consistent funding is important for growing your business. It’s important that we walk the journey with our farmers. It is a challenge to make sure they have the right genetics to breed slaughter cattle and get access to the market.
Hlobisile Yende (Yende and Partners Farming): I had the advantage of starting farming after my grandfather and father. Now I can build on to the market they built before me. Potatoes SA also help me a lot. So, it is important to form associations with groups. You must respect other people. Listen to them; perhaps you will learn from them. You must also trust yourself. Pay attention to detail.
Emmanuel Mudau (Mathuba Genetics): It is important to farm with adapted animals. I farm in heartwater area which makes it very difficult. From a young age I loved breeding, starting with pigeons. More recently I helped to developed a unique sheep for our conditions, the Bosvelder, because farming has a lot of challenges.
Regenerative farming
Danie Slabbert from Reitz in the Free State explained the wonder of regenerative farming, saying that when he started farming, the soil was in a bad way.
“We have lost the natural wonder of the soil by using more and more chemicals and ploughing and ripping the field.” That is why he started high-density grazing and used fewer chemicals in crop production.
Now he does everything he can to manage nature and to build up the soil, starting with no-tillage then adding high-density grazing to heal the soil and give it a good rest period.
The normal carrying capacity in his area is one large stock unit on four hectares. With high-density grazing he grazes the equivalent of 5 000 large animal units per hour per hectare.
No-tillage and planting a variety of crops, followed by cover crops, has huge benefits. Previously there was hardly an earthworm to be found. Now there a large number.
By not ploughing any more, he could get rid of 11 tractors and a lot of equipment. Now he needs only three tractors. This has had a huge influence on his economics.
He also uses 30% less fertiliser, especially nitrogen which is toxic to the soil and its organisms. Diesel consumption is also down. Another big benefit is better water infiltration; from average 60% infiltration to harvesting about 90% of the rain.
In the end he did not lose yield.
Danie is taking all this further by building his own slaughterhouse to sell his meat from cattle and chickens.
Anderson Mutasa, regenerative farmer from Radium in Limpopo, grazes his cattle, followed by pigs and chickens, to build up his soil and leave it in a better condition for his children.
In the beginning people were suspicious and even the police visited him. Now everybody is buying eggs and meat from him and he even created job opportunities.
