Development of emerging farmer crop-livestock systems in northern RSA

From 1999 to 2003, ACIAR funded project AS2/96/149 which researched and promoted the use of grain and forage legumes in crop and livestock systems in Zimbabwe and Limpopo province, South Africa. Notable project successes were, to a large extent, the result of investments in capacity building of the project team (students, extension staff, researchers) and well-targeted interventions. A new project was initiated in 2002 following on from some of the successes from AS2/196/149, however it was recommended that a new project should undertake an integrated RD&E program to help the 'emerging farmer' sector in Limpopo, South Africa become more profitable and sustainable. This emerging farmer sector had been broadly defined as previously disadvantaged farmers who are attempting to make a transition to commercially based agriculture. During the planning stages, it was concluded that land reform schemes underway in RSA would result in the creation of a new sector of emerging farmers. Land reform has proceeded slowly however, so the major sector of previously disadvantaged farmers in Limpopo remains as the non-commercial subsistence sector. While this project has successfully engaged some land reform farmers, mainly in the rangeland (veld) areas, tenure of most of the livestock farmers remains uncertain. Amongst the cropping based farmer groups, all are smallholder farmers with varying capacities and desires to make a transition from subsistence based farming to more commercially orientated farming systems.

Activities in the new project, led by Dr Anthony Whitbread of CSIRO and Mr Jeffery Mkhari of the Limpopo Department of Agriculture, began in March 2005 with a visit by the Australian project team and a startup workshop with the project partners (The Limpopo Department of Agriculture, The University of Venda for Science and Technology, The University of Limpopo, Progress Milling, the provinces largest grain milling company and a private consulting company AGES). The project, essentially divided into work on veld based livestock production systems and work on cropping based systems, has undertaken RD&E activities within 7 communities in 4 districts of Limpopo Province, engaging at least 250 farmers and their families in Year 1. To date there have been no mixed crop-livestock systems identified where synergistic opportunities exist for legume forage interventions.

The CSE Rangelands and Savannas team (Neil MacLeod and Cam Mcdonald) with assistance from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) veld team (led by Frits van Oudtshoorn) have undertaken activities with 3 farmer livestock groups based at Steilloop (Rebone) in Waterburg District, Nwanedi in the Vhembe District and Maboi in the Capricorn district. During the initial site inspections, it became apparent that insufficient property size and forage limitations due to veld degradation, in particular bush thickening and loss of perennial grasses, were the most critical management problems facing the emerging farmer groups. The need for legume fodder banks, which had been advanced as the key project technology was rated to be of a lesser priority. The main focus of field and communication activities has been strategically switched to veld monitoring, exclosures to identify relictual site potential and to test the feasibility of spelling, shrub control and other reclamation strategies to reclaim lost productivity of the pasture resources. Without a viable pasture base, any objectives to promote advanced animal nutrition and marketing of better classes of stock are of doubtful viability. In line with these conclusions, there have been trial sites (exclosure plots and pasture plantings) established on several farms and a commitment to similar at the remaining group sites; Resource assessments were made in April 2006 at case study farms at Steilloop, Nwanedi and Maboi. Discussions have been held with farmers to aid in the planning of the first round of group training to be held at Steilloop in July-August 2006. Workshops are also to be planned for the other sites, for late 2006 and early 2007.

The crop based work has been undertaken by Dr Kingsley Ayisi of AGES and teams from the University of Limpopo led by Dr Victoria Ayodele, and the University of Venda led by Dr Odhiambo with support from the local departmental extension officers. All the farmers engaged to date are smallholders and not land reform recipients. An extensive program of applied field research activities, based around the themes of improving soil fertility, agronomic management and the introduction of cash cropping, have been undertaken in four communities: 23 farmers from Dzwerani village, Vhembe district; 8 farmer associations at Perkesbult/Bloodriver in Capricorn district (in association with the ICRISAT-Dimes SMCN/2000/173 project): About 25 farmers from Mafarana and Gabaza villages, Mopani district; 69 farmers from Kulani and Sismukani near Thulamahashe town in Bohlabela District. The activities undertaken include demonstrations, researcher managed trials, farmer experiments, farmer discussion based workshops, fields days and farm walks. At the Mopani and Vhembe sites, MSC students have established on-farm field trials to collect some key data sets for use in their thesis and modelling validations. Benchmarking data collected at all sites indicate a large proportion of farmers > 60 years old, poor knowledge about basic agronomy, dissatisfaction with low and unreliable crop production, constrained resources available for inputs and a desire to produce enough produce in excess of home consumption for sale.

In Australia, an on-farm and on-station research program has been established in the Border Rivers and Maranoa-Balonne regions of southeast Queensland to demonstrate and undertake further research on mixed pasture-crop systems. Sites across both catchments have been sown to a range of large scale demonstrations of new legume pasture spp and annual fodder systems and more detailed small plot research sites. Field days and farm walks have created interest in the opportunities for improving production from pasture phases in farming communities where there are economic, social and environmental drivers to reduce the area used for crop production..

The main aim of this project is to improve the sustainability of emerging farmers who operate in crop or livestock farming systems in the Limpopo Province, South Africa and to support two local Universities and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture in conducting participative research and extension. The emerging farmer sector is made up of new farmers created by the land reform programs or existing previously disadvantaged farmers who are attempting to make a transition to commercially based agriculture. Emerging farmers created from the land reform schemes are essentially restricted to those undertaking livestock activities in the low rainfall rangeland (veld) areas, whereas crop based emerging farmers are predominantly pre-existing smallholder farmers in the former homelands. While this project has successfully engaged some land reform farmers, mainly in the rangeland (veld) areas, tenure of most of the livestock farmers remains uncertain and is considered to be a major impediment to success of these farmers. Amongst the cropping based farmer groups, all are smallholder farmers with varying capacities and desires to make a transition from subsistence based farming to more commercially orientated farming systems.

The project is led by Dr Anthony Whitbread of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and Mr Jeffery Mkhari of the Limpopo Department of Agriculture. It started in March 2005 with a visit by the Australian project team and a startup workshop with the project partners (The Limpopo Department of Agriculture, The University of Venda for Science and Technology, The University of Limpopo, Progress Milling, the provinces largest grain milling company and a private consulting company AGES). The project, divided into work on veld based livestock production systems and work on cropping based systems, has undertaken RD&E activities within 7 communities in 4 districts of Limpopo Province, engaging at least 250 farmers and their families. To date there have been no mixed crop-livestock systems identified where synergistic opportunities exist for legume forage interventions. There is, however, the potential for these systems to develop in many of the smallholder cropping areas.

The CSE Rangelands and Savannas team (Neil MacLeod and Cam Mcdonald) with assistance from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) veld team (led by Frits van Oudtshoorn) have undertaken activities with 3 farmer livestock groups based at Steilloop (Rebone) in Waterburg District, Nwanedi in the Vhembe District and Maboi in the Capricorn district. As reported in the 2006/07 annual report, uncertain land tenure, insufficient property size and forage limitations due to veld degradation, in particular bush thickening and loss of perennial grasses, were the most critical management problems facing the emerging farmer groups. The need for legume fodder banks, which had been advanced as the key project technology was rated to be of a lesser priority. The main focus of field and communication activities was therefore strategically switched to veld monitoring, exclosures to identify relictual site potential and to test the feasibility of spelling, shrub control and other reclamation strategies to reclaim lost productivity of the pasture resources. In line with these conclusions, there has been trial sites (exclosure plots and pasture plantings) established on farms at all sites.

The crop based work has been undertaken by Dr Kingsley Ayisi of AGES and teams from the University of Limpopo led by Professors Ayodele and Mariga, and the University of Venda led by Dr Odhiambo. Local departmental extension officer support is considered an essential component of the program and has been sought at all sites with varying degrees of success. All the farmers engaged to date are smallholders and not land reform recipients. An extensive program of applied field research activities, based around the themes of improving soil fertility, agronomic management and the introduction of cash cropping, have been undertaken in four communities: 25 farmers from Dzwerani village, Vhembe district; 8 farmer associations at Perkesbult/Bloodriver in Capricorn district (building on the associations of the ICRISAT-Dimes SMCN/2000/173 project): About 25 farmers from Mafarana and Gabaza villages, Mopani district; >100 farmers from Kulani and Sismukani near Thulamahashe town in Bohlabela District. The activities undertaken include demonstrations, researcher managed trials, farmer experiments, farmer discussion based workshops, fields days and farm walks. At the Mopani and Vhembe sites, MSC students have continued field trials to collect some key data sets for use in their projects and modelling validations. In the past 12 months, Guar bean has also been introduced as a potential industrial cash crop and seed multiplication, on-farm experiments, harvesting and processing and market development is underway led by Jeff Mkhari and also a new MSC student Mrs Ruth Mkhari. For the remainder of the projects life key field activities will continue but a greater emphasis will be on the development of extension material and the communication of this material in an effort to improve the livelihoods of many of the smallholder cropping farmers involved.

In Australia, on-farm and on-station activities were established in the Border Rivers and Maranoa-Balonne regions of southeast Queensland to demonstrate and undertake further research on mixed livestock-crop systems. Sites across both catchments have been sown to a range of large scale demonstrations of new legume pasture species and annual fodder systems and more detailed small plot research sites. Field days and farm walks have created interest in the opportunities for improving production from pasture phases in farming communities where there are economic, social and environmental drivers to reduce the area used for crop production. For the last 2 years of the project, the Australian component will be continued under other funding arrangements, and the focus of this ACIAR project will be generating communication and extension materials for South Africa and creating as many opportunities as possible for significant farmer adoption and commercialisation.

The aim of this project is to improve the sustainability of emerging farmers who operate in crop or livestock farming systems in the Limpopo Province, South Africa and to support local researchers and extension staff to develop systems based participative research and extension programs. The emerging farmer sector is made up of new farmers created by government land reform programs or existing smallholder subsistence farmers who are attempting to make a transition to commercially based agriculture. Emerging farmers created from the land reform schemes are largely restricted to those undertaking livestock activities in the low rainfall veld (rangeland) areas, whereas crop based emerging farmers are predominantly pre-existing smallholder farmers in the former homelands. While this project has successfully engaged some land reform farmers, mainly livestock farmers, the land tenure of many remains uncertain and is considered to be a major impediment to their success. Amongst the cropping based farmer groups, all are smallholder farmers with varying capacities and desires to make the transition from subsistence based farming to more commercially orientated farming systems.
Now in its 4th year, the emerging farmers project is led by Dr Anthony Whitbread of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems with local South African partners Mr Jeffery Mkhari (Limpopo Department of Agriculture) Dr Jude Odhiambo (University of Venda for Science and Technology) and Prof. Victoria Ayodele (University of Limpopo). Dr Kingsley Ayisi, a private consultant based in Limpopo has provided excellent support and service to the project as has Mr Frits van Oudtshoorn, formerly an LDA officer and now a private consultant. Dr Bruce Pengelly gives excellent support to the project in his role as an advisor and providing training.
The livestock and veld management focussed work is led by Mr Cam McDonald and Mr Neil MacLeod (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems) with assistance from LDA animal and pasture extension staff. Field research and training activities have been undertaken with three farmer livestock groups based at Steilloop in Waterburg District, Nwanedi in the Vhembe District and Maboi in the Capricorn district, and in the last year an additional group of farmers at Mannamead in the Capricorn district. Uncertain land tenure, insufficient property size and forage limitations due to veld degradation, in particular bush thickening and loss of perennial grasses, are critical management problems facing these emerging farmers. The program has included veld monitoring, exclosures to identify relictual site potential and to test the feasibility of spelling, shrub control and other reclamation strategies to reclaim lost productivity of the pasture resources and training. A key focus has been the delivery to farmers (100+) and extension staff (20+) multi-day training courses and follow-up workshops. The development of a brochure, "Veld Management - the Basics" has summarised key information from these interactions and is being widely distributed. This team has engaged the South African pasture research community in discussions around how to intervene effectively in emerging farmer communities.
The crop based work has engaged smallholder farmers, not land reform recipients and established an extensive program of applied field research activities based around the themes of improving soil fertility, agronomic management and the introduction of cash cropping. These have been undertaken with focal groups of farmers in five communities: 25 farmers from Dzwerani village, Vhembe district; 8 farmer associations at Perkesbult/Bloodriver in Capricorn district (building on the associations of the ICRISAT-Dimes SMCN/2000/173 project): 50 farmers from Mafarana and Gabaza villages, Mopani district; 40 farmers from Kulani and Sismukani in Bohlabela District. The activities include demonstrations, researcher/student trials, farmer experiments, farmer discussion based workshops, fields days and farm walks. At the Bohlobela community, resource constrained smallholder farmers have shown that they can adopt improved agronomic practices and increase cultivation and production of cash crops for sale. A wonderful and significant outcome that we hope to build on in other communities. The guar bean activities started in 2006/07 as a potential industrial cash crop industry has continued with seed multiplication, variety evaluations, harvesting, processing and market development. There is much enthusiasm from government and the mining industry for this to continue and extension material has been developed. For the remainder of the project, key field activities will continue but with a greater emphasis on the development of extension material and the communication of this material. Local departmental extension officer support is considered an essential component of the program and has been sought at all sites with varying degrees of success - this issue remains a significant impediment to progress. There have been significant positive changes in the capacity of local researchers to undertake relevant research and the project to date has enabled 2 female students complete MSc level studies and 4 other individuals obtain honours level dissertations. Two of these students have continued onto MSc level work with the project.
South Africa and southern Africa more broadly, needs more than ever practical systems based RD&E to assist its governmental services, municipalities and NGO's tackle the multitude of problems facing large rural populations.