Stimulating the agri sector in KZN

Phumla Vilakazi

“We all need to put our heads together in addressing challenges faced by this sector and provide much-needed solutions as a collective. With the right strategies, it is possible to win this economic war and eradicate the twin problems of poverty and food crisis currently ravaging the African continent.”

ADA is a public entity that was established to act as a “one-stop-shop” to assist entrant black commercial farmers who have acquired land through the Government’s land Reform Programme and on a private basis. However, the entity has recently undertaken a strategic review process which resulted in the change in its strategic focus. This was mainly due to the need to align its services with that of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD.)

In the medium to long term, the organisation’s service delivery model will evolve with a suite of agribusiness support products and services supporting a broad range of entrepreneurs through investments (in hard and soft infrastructure) and support systems. “We seek to promote, establish, facilitate and support the growth of black-owned and managed agricultural enterprises along agricultural value chains in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) through partnerships with individuals, communities, the private sector and other public sector institutions in order to achieve a transformed agribusiness sector in KZN,” Vilakazi says.

These product and service categories are:

Project management: Manage the implementation of high impact agro-processing projects in KZN from planning to handover, act as an implementing agency for complex agribusiness projects on behalf of other government departments in KZN.

Agribusiness facilitation services: These include connecting agribusiness entrepreneurs to information, innovations, technologies and markets

Infrastructure development: Manage the development of agro-processing infrastructure and investment in physical capital

Knowledge and information services: These include design and dissemination of agribusiness models, agribusiness training modules, and business leadership development

Agribusiness market infrastructure services: These include agri-business capacity and systems development and investments in infrastructure.

Financial resources mobilisation: Package bankable projects and assist them to access development finance, public and private funding as well as investments

Providing agribusiness support to land reform beneficiaries

“Our mandate is to provide agribusiness support services to entrant black commercial farmers who have acquired land through the government's Land Reform Programme, and on a private basis. In that regard, we were initially conceived as part of a strategy to implement and coordinate intergovernmental support for the Land Reform Programme in the KZN province. Specifically, we anticipated the agency to be a special purpose vehicle to coordinate government support to land reform beneficiaries. We positioned ourselves to resuscitate as well as develop commercial agriculture in the province. Through this agency, we were able to increase the value of farms owned by black commercial farmers, reduce the number of farms being repossessed as well as deal with the declining local economies of many rural towns that relied on commercial agriculture for their livelihoods.

We have since reviewed our mandate and shifted our strategic focus to agro-processing. The year 2016/17 is the first year of implementing of our five-year strategic plan which we recently tabled at the Legislature.”

Vilakazi says, “Our interventions have changed the agricultural landscape in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Although our Provincial footprint is very limited because of limited funding, we have made great strides in achieving our mandate. Before our interventions, some of the land reform beneficiaries were facing the challenge of getting financial assistance because they were often illiterate and poor. Some were in a dire situation taking into consideration that these financial institutions require security prior to providing funding which they lacked. In addition to that, some of these land reform farms were on the verge of being repossessed by the banks because of debt.”

Providing funding to these beneficiaries improved their agribusinesses and welfare. This funding enabled the beneficiaries to gain access to markets through capacity building programmes. Training on basic market principles (e.g., market and price search, bargaining and negotiation, contracts, etc.) business and financial management, farm records.

Interventions lead to improved livelihoods and production

“It had been beneficial to our beneficiaries. They are now able to produce high-quality products at the required market quantities. The stories of success and hope are indeed many. There is overwhelming consensus among our farmers that the ADA’s interventions have improved their livelihoods. Evidence from our Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Reports indicated that some farmers talked about improved food security, highlighting that they have ‘never slept on an empty stomach’ in the last two years.

Others were developmental in their outlook, indicating that the money that they have raised from selling their produce in the informal and formal market has been used to pay schools fees for their children and buying additional farming equipment. Whereas the farmers received little to no income from their farming activities, being beneficiaries of the project has resulted in them being market-oriented and raising incomes from farming activities. The positive attitude and optimism towards farming is linked to the confidence in their skills (farming techniques, marketing, value addition, etc.) that they received from us.”

“We have managed to turn around ailing farms including dairies, piggeries, grain farms, vegetable farms and livestock farms from zero production levels to a position where they are able to consistently supply the market. We have linked them to markets. “

The success and effectiveness of the ADA have been determined by the extent to which it achieved its objectives or outcomes. The number of farmers trained has been exceeded over the five years suggesting a successful capacity building programme. “We have empowered our farmers in both hard skills (such as farming techniques, business, and marketing techniques, etc.) and soft skills (such as group and social cohesion, rights, influencing policies, etc.)”

“Our interventions have resulted in increased welfare through improved levels of production and productivity, greater business management and marketing skills, sharing of knowledge, as well as increased market participation.”