Page 18 - 02 Cotton SA September 2013

Opkomende boere/Smallholder Farmers

How small scale cotton production came

a long way?

In the Late 1980’s to early 1990’s cotton production by smallholder farmers was concentrated in the far Eastern areas of South
Africa and Swaziland. At this time more than 300 families in these areas planted cotton. Farmers in that area were having
access to ginneries on their doorstep and I think transporting the crop must already have been a heavy financial burden on the
profitability of cotton as a crop.

ith the loss of access to Ginning facilities, increasing varying level of input over the years. Some have been used but
prices of inputs and labour, the farmers’ attention others have “gone lost” with the effect that the government
Wmoved to household food security and food crops. structures must re-invest in the famers annually.
Irregular rainfall was another factor claiming casualties and the
Central Government donated/placed a fleet of tractors with
need for mechanisation became a prerequisite with the advent
implements as part of the Mazibuyele e-Masimini mechani-
of GMO cotton.
sation programme so as to overcome the infra-structural
At that time the National Cotton Strategy was drawn-up and shortages in rural communities. This alleviated this problem, but
with the guidance of DAFF and other roll-players and it was allocation of the tractors to tasks for the different crops in the
envisaged that with the roll-out of this strategy smallholder area was poorly organised and full of organizational loopholes
farmers would start making substantial impact on the cotton for example; fuel shortages and poorly trained tractor drivers.
supply in South Africa.
There were an uneven number of implements and calibration
Mr Samuel Poto, from the Mpumalanga Department of required constant supervision. To alleviate these problems
Agriculture was the local promoter of cotton as a rotation crop. the fleet management was outsourced. But again there were
Together with Mr Simon Molope, of the ARC-IIC, they were able problems of excluding crops or areas from the initial contract.
to motivate farmers back to cotton production and influence This was resolved but it caused overloading of the tractor and
others to “give-cotton-a-chance”. At this time the Mpumalanga implements capacity and consequently for maize, sunflower,
Province was supporting this effort on a small scale. Cotton SA ground-nuts and cotton only a portion of the fields were
was busy behind the scenes to enlarge the structural support prepared for planting and during the season the tractors could
for the smallholder farmers. not be deployed as required to the maize, sunflower, ground-
nut and cotton fields to address the crop specific management
However, the real ground-breaking growth never materialized needs.
and in 2002 when GMO Cotton had proven its worth for farmers
it was decided to commence intensive training of smallholder In the last two planting seasons the total management picture
farmers. An AgriSETA registered course was formulated and has turned to a brighter side with the planting of approximately
with demonstration trials and mentoring the smallholder 140 ha cotton of the 500 ha available for cotton production.
farmers could now become empowered cotton farmers……
All the harvested cotton was delivered to the Loskop Ginnery
BUT, the major problem remained the acquisition of inputs.
near Marble Hall. Farmers also became aware of the “day price
Different levels of the Government structures have supplied “system as compared to contract production and the T&C’s
that are applied. In the 2012-13 season approximately 90 tons
of seed cotton was produced in the Nkangala district. Some
farmers have had serious losses due to marauding livestock and
this problem must be addresses by the communities.
Farmers who have had such damage regularly are Me
Ramalobeng, who has become a leader cotton farmer, and Mr
Morifi, a retired worker from Clark Cotton & NSK who has the
expertise to lead the total cotton production management in
the area.
It is with great expectations for the future that we, ARC-IIC
and Cotton SA are remaining involved in assisting and guiding
farmers willing to take-up the challenge to farm “white gold”.
It remains a grateful crop which requires a very different
and sensitive production management process to be a great
success story.
(Refer to previous contributions in Cotton SA Journal for details
of successful smallholder farmers who have joined the league
of commercial cotton farming.)
As a pocket guide to the smallholder farmer the HIGHLIGHTS
of ACTIVITIES required for a good season are outlined below.
Katoen SA Cotton 18 September-December 2013