At the virtual meeting last week, a member of the parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development asked the National Agriculture Marketing Council (NAMC) why smallholder farmers were selling products to other producers, instead of being linked directly with markets.
The committee was receiving the NAMC and Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB)’s 2019/20 Annual Reports.
There were reasons to haul the government agency over the coals. The NAMC had chalked up a deficit of R1.9 million – costs not budgeted for – and “fruitless, wasteful, irregular and unauthorised expenditure” which amounted to R125.7 million. The new CEO, Dr Simphiwe Ngqangweni, made the NAMC’s presentation.
Although there can be indignation at perceived fiscal indiscipline like this, there is a degree of comfort at the level of transparency. Subscribers of the Parliamentary Monitoring Group’s updates will have read the minutes of some meetings in which government departments or agencies are really taken to task, usually by members of the opposition or other competing political parties but sometimes by members of their own African National Congress.
So why were smallholder farmers selling products to other producers, instead of being linked directly with markets?
Ms Khumbuzile Mosoma, Senior Manager: Agribusiness Development, gave the answer.
Various buyers had been approached but unlike the Dry Beans Organisation (DPO – the “buyer” in question), they did not provide technical support. The DPO’s development scheme ticked all the boxes, so to speak, and the NAMC liked the involvement of the buyers from production to harvesting, and for the reliability of the technical assistance given. The DPO’s assistance went beyond harvesting, as assistance was given with operating facilities and the packaging of dry beans.
Almost each of our pages lists a relevant association under the role players. Poultry has the South African Poultry Association; maize and other grain crops have Grain SA; dairy farmers have the Milk Producers’ Organisation and so on. These associations represent producers when it comes to the economy and trade, legislation, political and governmental issues. And although they might not always be involved in the chain as a buyer, transformation is a professed imperative. Some have a dedicated desk for developing farmers, and pressure from various quarters has on at least two occasions of which we are aware meant that this portfolio is not a relegation of responsibility but remains very much in the CEO’s focus.
Producer organisations know that pressure is on every aspect of the value chain to transform, and should not be bypassed in efforts to establish new farmers. They have the network and expertise to deliver effective farmers – indeed, it is in their own interests to do so!
Producer organisations are listed as a role player category on our Emerging Farmer Support page, which is under the national and regional issues section (along with the likes of water, climate change, farm safety, and biosecurity). In the interests of food security and the country’s stability, we need to protect agriculture while transforming it; to grow South African markets while ensuring a more equitable share for small scale farmers. It is essential that producer organisations are allowed to play a role in this, and that they do.
Read the minutes of the meeting at https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/31498/.
Relevant pages on Agribook Digital include:
Photo by sohail shaikh on Unsplash
