The real reasons new farmers fail

The story of Zacharia Matli’s farming journey ( see pg 36) has just reminded me again how tough it is to start out as a new farmer. It takes grit, passion, faith and a lot of support to make it in this industry. As Matli’s story shows us, you have to have the courage to fail and then try again many times over. Even farmers who have been in the industry for decades are never far from failure. For many, two consecutive bad seasons, due to drought or some other natural disaster such as disease, would be enough to ruin their businesses.

But what stands out most from Matli’s experience is the prohibitively high cost of farming and the amount of practical and financial support new farmers need if they are to become successful.

Unfortunately, in the wrong sort of company, you will still hear people say that the high land reform failure rate can be blamed on a lack of ability. Yes, too many formerly productive farms handed over to the beneficiaries of land reform and restitution have failed and become unproductive.

However (and I can’t believe this still needs saying), it is not because black people cannot farm. On the contrary, Farmer’s Weekly has run hundreds of stories of black farmers who have succeeded brilliantly, in many cases with the odds stacked against them. In fact, if you haven’t yet met a successful black farmer, it must be because you are trying very hard not to.

But, in the same breath, we must dispel the notion that transformation in the farming sector has proceeded at a painfully slow pace because white farmers are involved in some sinister plot to upset the process or block new, black farmers from accessing value chains and achieving success. Again, there are numerous examples of where commercial white farmers, both in their personal capacity and via the various commodity organisations, have been instrumental in the success of black farmers by freely providing mentorship and other support. Like Matli, many black farmers have credited their success to the mentorship and backing they received from white commercial farmers.

I believe the main reasons why the farming sector has not become more transformed over the past two decades is because of poor support from government for the farming sector in general, new farmers’ lack of resources and access to capital that would enable them to invest in their business, and factors that have seen even many established, commercial farmers exit the sector these past few years. Globally, the farming sector has become more competitive, and, in many instances, farming businesses have had to scale up in order to survive. Coupled with low profitability, farmers have also had to contend with increasingly volatile climatic conditions such as the drought currently being experienced across large parts of Southern Africa. Under these circumstances it has become challenging for established businesses to survive, and substantially more challenging for new players to enter the sector.

The only way to ensure a higher success rate is for government to create a more supportive environment that is conducive to growth for all farmers.