Makgoro makes magic with mangoes

Female Farmer of the Year Makgoro Mannya is not a farmer in the traditional South African sense of the word. For one thing, she is neither white nor male and, perhaps more importantly, she has chosen to farm not by default because of land reform or inheritance, but by her own design and in pursuit of a larger enterprise.

Mannya, who farms mangoes and other fruit in the Mieliekloof valley east of Tzaneen in Limpopo, is one of a new breed of farmers that has adapted to profound changes in agriculture. Globalisation, the demise of protectionism and the sudden entry of millions of upwardly mobile consumers are introducing a completely new set of management issues for which the farmers of the past were not equipped.

When Mannya tells the story of her business, it is a tale of one thing leading to another, of the incremental steps that led to her success. Her story also reads like a case study in the application of management principles.

In the first instance, though, Mannya's is a story of classic entrepreneurship.

To its credit, the agriculture department's award to Mannya last year singled her out for her farm-management prowess, business acumen and contribution to her community.

Still, the gender differentiation can only be insulting to a business.

Learning the value of hard work

Mannya's childhood was spent precisely in such circumstances, in an extended family headed by her mother and aunt in the Ga-Ramokgopa community in a dusty Limpopo bushveld village north of Polokwane. Here, in modest surroundings — “though never wanting” — is where she says she learnt the value of hard work and of the single-minded pursuit of a goal. Mostly, though, the value of family and community ties determines the way Mannya conducts her business.

Holidays from the University of Venda were spent working on a mango farm learning to make atchar, and by the time Mannya graduated with a Bachelor of Admin degree, she had grown in acumen beyond her peers. The job market was clearly not for her. Instead, she started a small fast-food business — a micro enterprise to be precise — in her home village, but it was the atchar sold on the side that attracted the customers.

“I listen to my customers,” says Mannya. “If they want more oil and less salt in the recipe, that's what I give them. If they want their atchar packaged in plastic buckets, that's what they get.” That is customer relationship management at a fundamental level.

Mannya's fast-food stall was soon replaced by Ditubatse Business Enterprise, operating from Johannesburg and delivering atchar in bulk with the help of a small business-development agency, Gauteng Enterprise Propeller. She had achieved the first P of the marketing quintuplet — product — and the business was well under way.

Success brings its own problems

Mannya's big customer, Shoprite Checkers, wanted 2,5 tons of atchar a month, which, when she added it to her other customers' needs, was way more than her capacity. Now her days were being taken up almost entirely in the search for raw material.

The only solution was to acquire her own farm. Mannya found one during one of her interminable trips scouring lowveld orchards for a supply of green mangoes. It was a simple matter, she says. “I saw the ad for the 440ha farm, a going concern, and I made the call. It took a little persuasion, but eventually the seller, an Italian, believed me that my offer was real. He has been incredibly supportive since and he still calls every year to find out how things are going.

“I knew I took a huge risk buying a property like this and it was a bit frightening at first. ‘Now what?' I thought. I must find R8,5 million, fast.” That was supplied with the minimum of fuss, Mannya says, as a loan from the Land Bank. The bank also lent her a further R600000 for operational capital.

That was two years ago and led to yet another shift. While atchar production is still the core business with mangoes taking up 178ha, the farm is also planted to avocados (142ha) guavas (47ha) and the balance to litchis, palms and vegetables. Farming has become central to the business, exporting between 400 and 500 tons of first-grade avocados to Europe and litchis to Madagascar. Mannya also grows chillies for atchar.

Exporting demands standards must be met

Atchar production came to about 300 tons in the previous season. This year, Mannya estimates it should reach 450 tons. She is confident also of maintaining a yield of more than 2 000 tons of mangoes a year, 640 tons of guavas and 2300 tons of avocados.

More than 15% of the mangos and 25% of the atchar is sold in Botswana and about 80% of the avocados are exported, with the balance going to Westfalia distributors and informal traders.

The export business means Mannya must maintain EurepGAP standards, a strict set of on farm hygiene protocols enforced by European grocers. The farm is in the process of achieving HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) standards.

For a business this size, with an estimated turnover of R8m a year, a corporate social responsibility program may seem like a luxury. Mannya has proven, however, that it pays. Her labourers (86 permanently employed and 25 seasonal casuals) keep the orchards clear of weeds, critical to prevent fire damage and to maintain soil nutrition, by using the areas between trees to raise their own crops. It does not cost the labourers anything and it saves Mannya the cost of mechanical clearing and hiring more workers.

Investing in the future

She also runs an HIV/AIDS awareness program in the community, sponsors a crèche, provides a free adult basic education program for her workers and accepts mangoes from small-scale growers in the community as preferred suppliers.

That way she will never again be short of raw material, says Mannya.

Now the community is one of her biggest customers, buying atchar and fruit from a warehouse on the farm for sale in the informal trade, much of it at various social-grant and other pay points across Limpopo. This way Mannya achieves another marketing P — place — and gains an extensive marketing network virtually cost-free.

The atchar business has literally sparked off a mini local economy. Mannya is planning a further investment in the mango business — a new, larger cutting and packing warehouse on the farm — to accommodate growing demand for her product and a growing supply of mangoes. She also plans to erect a new facility to grade avocados for quality control and to expand her export markets.

Mannya acknowledges that things are going well, that the business is profitable and that her prospects are good. “But it can always be better,” she says. “I can increase production a lot, and quickly, but I can't do it without a large capital investment.

“This is where the government must help. Farmers like me — not just black farmers, but all farmers — need big capital investments that can only come from the government if we are to feed our people and compete internationally.”

Source: Business Day

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