Nigeria is a paradise for agriculture – South African farmer

It is believed that farming activity in South Africa is very successful compared to most countries in the continent. How were you able to achieve that?Of all the economic industries in South Africa, farming is the healthiest book with the commercial banks at the moment. But we also measure our success by economical output. We […]

It is believed that farming activity in South Africa is very successful compared to most countries in the continent. How were you able to achieve that?
Of all the economic industries in South Africa, farming is the healthiest book with the commercial banks at the moment. But we also measure our success by economical output. We are 35,000 commercial farmers feeding a nation of 55 million people and we are a net exporter of food. On the average, each commercial farmer feeds about 1,200 people, 3 times a day and 365 days in a year. The secret of our success is technology. We no longer carry letters by hand anywhere in the world. But in Africa, we are still farming the way people were farming 3,000 years ago. We still carry hoes to farm when a modern tractor today doesn’t really need a driver. You can operate it with a GPS on your laptop. How on earth can we expect in Africa with 80 percent of the in-depth ground water, with the best climate of all the continents on average and with 80 percent of the population living on the soil; we have what money cannot buy. What we lack is what money can buy. How do we expect to be compared with the rest of the world in technology? So, in South Africa we did that and that is why we are successful.
To what extent is the government supporting or sponsoring agriculture in South Africa?
South Africa is after New Zealand, the least government sponsored agricultural economy in the world. The involvement of government is limited to land reform and some assistance to imaging farmers who are mostly beneficiaries to land reform. Agriculture in South Africa is a private-driven thing. It is a partnership between the agric businesses, between the agricultural banks and individuals, mostly family farms.
One thing Nigerian farmers are lacking is mobilization. They do not have functional and effective farmers unions and cooperative societies to help them establish factories. How is it in South Africa?
Our farmers’ organization in South Africa is very powerful. When you are a farmer in South Africa, you are usually a member of more than one organization. You are part of a local association which organizes all your neighbours, mostly 12 to 20 farmers in such associations. Each district will have 4 to 10 such associations and we have more than 4,000 such associations all over the country. But you could also be a member of your commodity structure. Grain farmers will belong to Grain South Africa. I am a member of Forestry South Africa and the association that organize the South African fruits industry and I also have goats.
How do you intend to explore farming opportunities in Nigeria?
A delegation of my organization just returned from a visit to Nigeria and the feedback to me was, “Men, this is paradise. You’ve got everything to be a successful farmer. You’ve got wonderful soils, good climate, in fact all the things you dream of. And you’ve got people who can farm who are highly skilled.” What you lack in Nigeria are probably well developed agric value chain. The farmers must know exactly where they will find financing, where to buy the best new breed of seeds and improved seeds, fertilizers. You have an excellent farming environment which many countries are lacking. The next thing is for the farmers to know where to take their products to. You do not have enough processing plants in Nigeria and your farmers are not directly involved in the processing; to take the products to the consumers because that is where the profits are. You have solid structures to organize farmers but the involvement of your farmers is not what it should be. If I could give some advice to Nigerian farmers, it will be, take your destiny in your own hands and ensure that you have strong structures at the lowest possible level, which is at the grassroots level. That will make a difference to your own farming operation. From there you’ll become a powerful force.
How were you able to form your organization? How did you start it?
There is no shortcut to it, there is no easy way. We are well organized today because we started exactly 110 years ago. It is our way of life. It is part of our culture, it’s a tradition. We are working very hard to assist all our neighbours and that is why I am involved in SACAU our regional structure. There is no bigger fashion for farmers than farmers’ organization because alone we are weak but together we are strong. Together we can do so much than what we can do on our own. The solution is to start in your immediate environment. Get a once-a-month meeting with your neighbours even if it is just 4 or 5 of you but the more the better. And in those meetings, discuss those issues that have direct impact on you. Link up to good markets, discuss the profitability, the lack of proper access to finance and then engage other stakeholders in the industry such as the banks, the chemical companies, the petroleum companies and the input companies. Then you can wrestle for better prices for your inputs and better prices for your produce. There are only two things that fuse the farmers’ organization and you should make sure you organize farmers around those two things. They are the profitability and the sustainability. You must be able to make that profit again next year.
How is the agric value chain working in South Africa?
The value chain starts with the banks. Financing – how to pay for your inputs, and then the input companies, fertilizer, seeds and mechanization companies, that is where it start and then to the farms. The value chains are organized in my country in commodity organizations. The readymade producers are organized from the banks right to the consumer place. And we always wrestle the big companies because we want farmers to share in the profit from the farm gate to the consumer place. Because the processing is the center of the profit as there is much more profit in the processing, logistics and the retail than there is in the actual farming, it is so important that farmers collectively own a part of it. If you want our product you must share your profit with us too. There is so much difference than it is in the timber industry compared to what it is in the red meat industry or in the mango industry than it is in the sugar industry.