Poor production methods and limited market access are some of the challenges that prevent small African farmers from developing.
In cattle farming, poor grazing practices and a lack of vaccination produce poor quality animals. Limited information, poor infrastructure, cultural issues and other factors, lead to low participation levels of these farmers in livestock markets. This study explored the prevalence of these challenges in two geographical locations of two African countries (South Africa and Kenya) with the intention to identify possible cross lessons for developing small rural farmers.
Ethnographic and case study methods were used to collect and analyse data in two provinces (one in each country) where cattle farming by small rural farmers is predominant. From the two countries, three cases of distinguishable cattle production and marketing challenges were identified.
Firstly, rural South African (SA) small farmers are generally faced with high production and marketing challenges, which prevent them from developing into successful commercial farmers. Secondly, Kenyan small rural farmers face similar production challenges as those faced by their SA counterparts, but perform better at marketing their animals, although they still face a lot of structural marketing issues, with brokers controlling the market to the disadvantage of farmers.
Thirdly, the study identified a case of rural Black SA farmers who are being assisted through a research project in the Eastern Cape Province that embraces a more holistic environmental approach to rural development to overcome most production and marketing challenges. Given the successes of the holistic view, this study concludes that the environmental approach presents the best case lessons for replication across SA in developing small African farmers. It is argued that the replication of lessons across SA would require central coordination by a government agency. The national agricultural extension office (one of whose mandates is to work directly with farmers for their development) would be most appropriate for this coordination role.
Africa’s smallholder farmers need support to build resiliency and sustainability
Mbatha says that while Kenyan small rural farmers face similar production challenges as those faced by their SA counterparts, they are more advanced in their level of participation in formal markets. However, the farmers’ lack of resources including infrastructure to transport animals to markets, has allowed an emergence of powerful traders who control markets to the detriment of poorly resourced farmers. “The Kenyan beef value chains are dominated by brokers, traders and butchers. There are persistent reports of high levels of collusion by fewer brokers, especially in the marketing stages of livestock.”
Mbatha says that even though the market domination by brokers is higher in Kenya compared to SA, Kenyan farmers are still better off. “In SA small farmers are almost completely excluded in the marketing stages of red meat, where big suppliers dominate the market. As the small farmer markets develop, it should be anticipated that brokers would emerge to occupy many spaces where obvious profits can be made and market issues like those observed in Kenya may develop, where market powers and prices are skewed against producers. Extension offices in SA must already develop strategies for bypassing any potential dominance of markets by traders to the abuse of farmers through prices in different regions of the country.”
The study identifies a successful case study in developing small African farmers that could be replicated across South Africa. The Meat Naturally Initiative (MNI) in the Eastern Cape Province applies a holistic model through which many of the documented challenges in livestock farming for both countries could be reduced, or avoided.
“This project has a holistic environmental approach to rural development, with rangeland restoration as one of its objectives. This project organised livestock auction markets for rural small farmers as one of its initiatives to incentivise farmers to participate in environmental protection efforts. Put simply, stakeholders work with traditional leaders to mobilise community members to restore and protect their ecological capital. The model rewards community members with economic incentives aimed at reducing poverty and improving their livelihoods, through participation in livestock-based enterprises.”
Mbatha says that while the MNI model seems sustainable if implemented as intended, only a small proportion of farmers currently benefit. Many parts of the project and its approach to development need to be emulated for the benefits of more SA small farmers in other rural regions, a process that could be co-ordinated through the national agricultural extension office. Mandated to assist small farmers, it holds the required national footprint and shares many of the developmental objectives of the project to promote the lessons across the country.
“If the useful lessons from the model are not deliberately spread across the country, as small farmer markets develop on their own, many of the bad structural elements of such markets may creep in. The Kenyan study illustrates well what some of these elements could be with respect to potentially rising farmer abuses by traders or brokers.”
