The Roots of Developing Agriculture in the South African Context

By McGreggor S. Ntuli

The Roots of Developing Agriculture in the South African Context is meant to be a reader that addresses the current status and the possible future position of Developing Agriculture into perspective given the transformation its currently undergoing in South Africa. Much emphasis is deliberately placed on the experiences of the developing farmer and to a lesser extent that of the role-players of the industry. This means that the book is meant to focus on the actual proceedings of the industry, particularly at farmers level, as opposed to expounding on literature based findings or documented policies that do not reflect the actual state of affairs.
The need of writing such a book came after realizing that the servants of this industry have varied perspectives in terms of the winning formula that would ensure its successful progression of refining the industry by uplifting emerging farmers of South Africa. An additional reason is that its the very same role players of the very same industry who dedicate much time in transferring technical information (that elaborates on the management of a farming business as well as how to produce agricultural products) to farmers, whilst continuously neglecting the need to identify and apply the principles that would ensure the attainment of the ultimate industrial goal of uplifting developing farmers so as to make positive contributions towards the local economy. As a result of the latter reason, the publishing of technical information has been one of the strongest points of South African agriculture. However, with all this information made available to farmers and various agriculturalists in abundance, the industry still experiences a low success rate in its attempt to transform previously disadvantaged farmers despite providing them with the relevant technical knowledge. This clearly shows the gap and the need of having such a book that will not only put the authors perspective and suggested solutions into perspective, but will also consolidate some of those that are being shared in all sorts of formal and informal gatherings.

The above passage details the central theme of the book, which will be sufficient to cover the content of the subject.
Therefore the scope of readers will include everyone in the agricultural sector as well as those who have the interest in and are affected by agriculture and current affairs of South Africa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491887066

McGreggor S. Ntuli

McGreggor Sibusiso Ntuli is a self-proclaimed fairly renowned agriculturalist (particularly known amongst developing farmers) who holds a BTECH degree in Rural Development and Extension in Agriculture. He attained this qualification through Tshwane University of Technology (TUT, the former Technicon of Pretoria), and is coupled together with extensive experience in providing his services to developing farmers of different commodities at different levels and to different areas of South Africa. Besides being an accredited assessor with AGRISETA, additional training and exposure to agriculture has been acquired from the Netherlands. The author’s vast knowledge of the industry and that of the topic has been acquired through years of experience as a professional agriculturalist by being involved in agricultural research, writing editorials for an agricultural monthly publication, training of farmers and the provision of farmer support services to developing farmers.

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© 2013, 2014 McGreggor S. Ntuli. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/20/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8705-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8706-6 (e)

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Contents

1.   Introductory Points To Note: The History And

Impact of Agriculture in South Africa

2.   The Concept of Developing Agriculture

3.   Transformation As A Factor Of

Developing Agriculture

4.   Distinguishing The Different Levels Of

Farming in Developing Agriculture

5.   Indicators Of Measuring The Progress Of

Developing Agriculture

6.   Essential Resources Required By

Developing Farmers

7.   Methods of Acquiring Essential Needs In

A Farming Business

8.   Challenges That Arise With Transforming

The Industry

9.   Strategies of Resolving

The Identified Challenges

10.   Concluding On The Defined Views

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to many people who saw me through this book; to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design.

Additional and special acknowledgements go to the following people for their various efforts, contributions and inspiration, without which this book wouldn’t have been written.

I.   My mom, Zodwa for making this book a success in every way

II.   My brother, Thulani for his encouragement and typing

III.   My spouse, Tina for giving me courage and believing in me

IV.   Kgomotso Sehoole for proofreading

V.   Khathutshelo Neluheni for editing, proofreading and for sharing his knowledge and expertise on the subject matter

VI.   Author house for making it possible for me to publish this book

Lastly I’ll give credit to all of those who have been with me over the years of my career.

DEDICATIONS

This book is dearly dedicated to my daughter, Tshegofatso who stimulates the best in me, my mom (Zodwa) for her guidance, upbringing and making me the person I am. Finally, to everyone who commits themselves in contributing towards the well-being of the agricultural industry of South Africa.

DISCLAIMER

The content of this book reflects the views of the author which are based mainly on his experiences and expertise on the subject. Much emphasis is deliberately placed on the norms and experiences that take place at the operational level of the industry as opposed to elaborating on literature based findings or documented strategies that do not reflect the actual circumstances. The subject matter is not intended to address the pros and cons of the entire scope of the industry, but it’s meant to focus specifically on the common issues that are experienced primarily by developing farmers and to a lesser extent the servants of the South African agricultural industry. As a result of this, most data and information has been acquired informally (without the use of a formalised questionnaire) through prearranged farmer visits, by training developing farmers, exchanging views with role players of the industry and by attending various agricultural functions that place emphasis on topics that are similar to that of the book. Due to unforeseen dynamics of change, some views expressed in this book could change with time without any notice. Finally, the author declares no intentions of negative perception or conflict to any person who is affected by this subject.

PREFACE

In the current era of the modernised South Africa, it may be quite difficult or even almost impossible to raise an issue that relates to the transformation of human livelihoods without creating a political or racial implication. This fact is largely (if not totally) due to the political history of this country. Although historic events are usually used as points of reference when unfolding a subject that deals with the creation of equal opportunities, they are not always intended to cause any commotion amongst its citizens, but rather should be viewed as a source of measuring the progress of equality.

However, without dwelling much on political connotations or creating perceptions of any racial implications to any ethnical group what so ever, this book seeks to put the current status and possible future position of the South African agricultural sector (particularly Developing Agriculture) into perspective. Amongst other things, this will be done by clearly defining the types of farmers that the industry is trying to empower. After all, the empowering of developing farmers is one of the major intentions of this industry. Hence defining and distinguishing the different levels of farming would be of vital importance due to the fact that some agriculturalists who are involved in empowering these farmers have little knowledge on the types of farmers they are actually serving.

Experience has shown that a large proportion of these agriculturalists battle to understand the farmers’ position in terms of the resources that are most commonly required by them, the type of assistance they need in order to ensure that they obtain basic resources, the support structure that would ascertain their