Celumgwenya Farm

Opportunities for farming

in Mpumalanga
This document aims to
highlight the current
landscape of farming
market in Mpumalanga
province; It also highlights
some of the programs the
province has undertaken to
deal with critical issues in
the province. lastly this
document also highlights
some opportunities for
small scale farmers in the
province
Lungis Concept
2/29/2016

Mpumalanga Agriculture Landscape

Being the second smallest province in the
country, Mpumalanga's agricultural sector is
one of the strategic sectors contributing
towards the MTSF strategy of a Vibrant,
Equitable, and Sustainable Rural Communities
Contributing towards Food Security for all.
The province is in the fore front of farming in
South Africa with places such as:

Groblersdal an important irrigation

area, which yields a wide variety of
products such as citrus fruit, cotton,
tobacco, wheat and vegetables.
Carolina-Bethal-Ermelo is mainly a
sheep-farming area, but potatoes,
sunflowers, maize and peanuts are also
produced in this region.
Mbombela is the second-largest citrusproducing area in South Africa and is
responsible for one third of the
country's export in oranges

The province still faces many challenges today

despite its efforts to strengthen the whole
agricultural value chain. Increasing investment
in agricultural infrastructure such as bulk
irrigation infrastructure, infield irrigation
which improves irrigation efficiencies, farm
roads and agro-processing infrastructure e.g.
juice making facilities, grain silos, mills,
drying facilities remains a huge challenge for
the province.
The sector is mainly composed of resource
poor small farmers who cannot optimize the
use of their land and other natural resources.

On the bright side, the province has established

a programs that provides technical and
infrastructure support to land reform
beneficiaries including subsistence food
producers, smallholder farmers and
commercial farmers.
The Farmer Support and Development
Programme consist of three sub-programmes:
Farmer Settlement, extension and advisory
services, as well as food security. The
programme improved on its support for small
holder farmers where 16 475 were supported
against a target of 9027. This was mainly due
to the drive of the department to organize
farmers into cooperatives that can support the
planned Fresh Produce Market and other
markets such as the School Nutrition
Programme

Future still looks bright for farming

in the province despite the challenges
it faces
Farmers in Mpumalanga are expected to
increase production due to increased local
processing capacity which is expected to drive
the costs of transportation lower. Mpumalanga
province is expected to continue to lead the
provinces in the production of soybeans,
followed by the Free State province
Initiatives such as "The LRAD", a programme
of the Department of Agriculture and Land
Affairs to help previously disadvantaged
people who want to become farmers, but do
not own land will see increased farming the in
province in the near future.

Case Studies from large scale players

What keeps them successful?
Company
Name

About

HL Hall and Has been operating for over

125 years and operates under
Sons Group
the
Mataffin
farm
in
Nelspruit. The company's
roots are structured through
the companies early on motto
of delivering their products to
the clients location and its
diversified revenue streams.
Its values are based on,
integrity,
respect,
accountability, perseverance
and humility
Website Link
SIS
farm

Group Operating in Mpumalanga for

over 88 years and run by
Hyman family. Its boasts its
success
on
culture
of
commitment and team effort
Website Link

Boschkrans
Boerdery
(Pty) LTD.
Klipbank

The company focuses on

substantial farming and is
very labour intensive with 300
employees working on the
farm. The company holds its
roots on ethical trading and
employee support in everyday
business
Website Link

Green Farms
Nut
Company
(Pty) Ltd

Established in 1991 by
Rodney Green and Alan and
Jill Whyte, as the first
privately owned Macadamia
processing factory in South
Africa. They are committed to
employment equity, nondiscrimination, and Black
Economic Empowerment; this
involves
training
and
encouraging all staff to
achieve their potential. It is
important
to
us
that
occupational health and safety
protocols are adhered to
Website Link

Umbhaba
It distinguish itself as a large
Estates Pty scale employer and prides
itself as being the forefront of
Ltd
socio economic development
in the province, one of its core
success factors is having a
core management team with
solid
skills
that
are
transferable
to
their
employees
Website Link

Opportunity for small scale farming:

Lessons to learn from other successful small
scale farmers in the province
The province like any other part of the country
is experiencing tough Agricultural economic

times; vegetables such as onions are in

shortage and this given a rise in demand
Small scale farmers in Mpumalanga have been
lucky to be part of national governments
imitative of supplying small scale farmers with
new tractors to the value of ZAR 500 million.
This imitative is driven by the Masibuyele
Emasimini programme, for one to qualify for this
programme you have to be historically
disadvantaged and have proof of land ownership.
More information here

More Government programmes have been put

in place to support small scale farmers and are
all available and accessible to those who wish
to utilise these resources. One big trend and
wind for these small scale farmers is the new
government schools market that has been made
possible where farmers now have an
opportunity to supply their produce to
selected government schools
The province also has categories of funding
put in place to assist small scale farmers, these
include:

MADC Seasonal Loans: This loan

helps farmers to pay for the production
inputs needed to produce the farm
outputs. The loan is repaid in full
within the same year.
MADC Business Loans: These are
aimed at helping farmers to extend or
improve their farm.
MADC Revolving Credit Facility: This
credit facility is aimed at existing
business persons who seek financing to
trade in the agriculture sector

You can get contact MADC: 013 755-6328

There are also a number of institutions
providing finances to SMMEs in Mpumalanga,
these include:

Beehive Entrepreneurial Development

Centre (013 235 1695).
Ekukhanyeni Finance Facility ( 017
683 0901)
Emerging Entrepreneurs Finance
Service Centre ( n/a)
Marang Financial Services ( 011 781
3957)
Middleburg Micro Credit Outlet ( n/a)
Mpumalanga Economic Empowerment
Corporation ( 013 933 3009)
Siyakhula Micro Business Finance (
013 752 3470)

Potential suppliers and partners to

consider:
Most profitable small scale farmers are
supplying their produce to these institutions;
these institutions are active in supporting
upcoming farmers through buying their
produce:

Individuals within the community

including vendors and wholesalers
Suncity
Funerals
RBI
Choppies
Fruit and Vegi
Malan fruit & vegetables
Marang Hotel
Spar

Kedar
Shelela hostel caterer
Ph network
Feeding Schemes such as Bafokeng
feeding scheme
Renhill market
Pick n Pay
And recently government schools

Lessons to consider for Celumgwenya

Farm
It is important for small scale farmers to
promote job creation, income generation and
household food security amongst their
employees and community.
It is also best for a small scale to join a
cooperative to gain support in penetrating the
Fresh Produce Market and other markets such
as the School Nutrition Programme, The
African Farmers Association of South Africa
(Afasa) has kick-started the development of a
co-operative bank, where More than 300,000
farmers in Mpumalanga are set to benefit, this
is evidence that corporative farming will be
sustainable in the near future, and it is
important for one to be involved in this
initiatives especially if the farm is not yet
matured enough to service the market and
maintain strong client relationships
Skills development for both owners of the
farm and the farm workers is also crucial in
maintain success. Learning technical skills
such as business relations and finance is
important for a small scale to yield confidence
when servicing the market and when bidding
for financial sponsorships from investors

The province is aware of skills shortages gap

for crop production skills and other skills such
as, marketing, farming systems, farm
mechanization, financial management and
farm management. Government has
established a list of schools that can fill this
skills shortage gaps.

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is

a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the
corn field" Dwight D. Eisenhower