Farmer support that makes a real difference

FarmSol partners with South African Breweries to support smallholder grain farmers across eight provinces in South Africa. Aron Kole, managing director of FarmSol, spoke to Glenneis Kriel about his company’s history and aims, as well as his personal journ

who will grow products to their specification, ensuring cost saving and preserving the identity of products.

FarmSol is the linkage that connects the smallholder farmer and the multinational in the food and beverages sector.

What services do you provide?

Besides project management, we provide on-farm training and tailor-made support through our dedicated team of mentors and agri specialists.

We help unlock and administer loans to smallholder farmers and negotiate offtake agreements, where risks are mitigated against under- or oversupply of grain. Farmers are also exposed to our experienced technical partners, who assist them with grain trading and hedging instruments to mitigate price risk.

In addition to this, FarmSol offers VAT and administrative support to beneficiaries.

FarmSol does much to make new technology more accessible to smallholder farmers. Why is access to new technology so important?

To break out of the poverty trap and farm on a commercial scale, farmers need to adopt the latest technology. Mechanisation isn’t about the size of the equipment or the biggest motor, but about technology that allows a farmer to be more precise, efficient and safe, and that ultimately increases farm profitability.

Mechanisation is becoming increasingly important considering the rising demand for greater food production within a limited time frame and as efficiently as possible. Climate change is also resulting in higher production risks and shorter windows of opportunities to plant.

How does FarmSol render technology more accessible to farmers?