During the second episode of African Farming, the agricultural television show on Mzansi Wethu (channel 163), Mr Praveen Dwarika, AFGRI Managing Director of Lemang Agricultural Services, explained to the show’s host, Angie Khumalo, what kind of training and services they offer farmers to assist them in making a financial success of their business.

There are farmers out there that aren’t very fond of their offices and paperwork. They’d rather be outside between the animals or crops.

Palesa Moahloli, a successful female farmer from Boshof in the Free State, is quite different in that regard. As a former accountant with a BCom Accounting degree her books are all up to date and done with the greatest attention to detail. Lemang Agricultural Services will be able to offer her assistance to not only improve her recordkeeping, but also to hone her business plan even further.

“It’s all about determining the purpose of writing a business plan,” explains Dwarika.

“Nobody writes a business plan that doesn’t work. The fact that she has an accounting background and understands numbers, means she’s able to sit down and do exactly that.”

Using a business plan, a farmer can ascertain what else the farm might offer.

“What about mitigating risk? Don’t just look at the positive factors. Understand that you can be hit with natural events that negatively impact your farm,” Dwarika cautions.

“And in cases where a farmer doesn’t have the same kind of background as Palesa and doesn’t understand numbers, it can become risky. Make no mistake, it can potentially break a business.

“That’s where we pride ourselves on the training side of Lemang Agricultural Services. It’s making sure we bring these kinds of skills to the farmer: business management, negotiation, financial management. This is important when you need to reach out to your banker or advisers because the first thing they want to see is the paperwork. It’s important to get that right and that is exactly what we will do for you.”

When it comes to training, Lemang Agricultural Services take its role as AGRI-SETA accredited training providers very seriously.

“We see that as a key resource in the new-era farmer’s journey. By offering theoretical training in plant-production, mixed farming, and animal production; coupled with business and financial management, we gear the farmer up for all aspects of their farming operations.”

For information: follow link, afgri.co.za/lemang-agricultural-services/