Massey Ferguson’s drive to haul Africa into mechanised farming

GRACE Sakala farms cotton, maize and soya beans on 17ha in Zambia’s Central Province, near the town of Kabwe.

Sakala, 60, bought her own farm four years ago after saving up money for “many years” by farming on land she rented from neighbours.

“I bought 25ha and then I sold 8ha to put up the farm buildings,” she said, watching a demonstration of Massey Ferguson’s entry-level 345 Series tractor, which it has just introduced to Africa and is showcasing at its test farm outside Lusaka.

Thierry Lhotte, Massey Ferguson’s vice-president for marketing in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said the low-spec tractor sold well in Pakistan and Yemen, where farming conditions were “robust”.

The introduction of the 345 Series is part of a drive by Massey Ferguson’s parent company, USlisted Agco, to expand its sales and manufacturing base in Africa.

A pilot programme will begin in November to support this drive to move farming in Africa to greater mechanisation to better manage soil quality and improve productivity.

Its “farm-in-a-box” concept is aimed at grouping up to five smallscale farmers at a time in collectives of at least 25ha, where for less than $20 000 (about R290 000) they will own a tractor and five implements within three years.

Sakala said she paid someone to prepare her fields with animaldrawn ploughs; a tractor, she said, would make it much faster but “I would need to organise and build my assets and finances before [being able to consider one]”.

Nuradin Osman, Agco’s director of operations for the Massey Ferguson brand in the Middle East and Africa, said the scheme would rely on a two-season rental programme. In the third year farmers “will be in a position to buy the farm-in-a-box”.

Osman said Agco had been working alongside agricultural NGOs, microfinanciers and established banks to find a model that allowed farmers to borrow against offtake agreements.

“We are really trying to solve this question of $20 000 . . . because we want to be able to replicate this across other markets in Africa.”

Rob Smith, Agco’s senior vicepresident and general manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said Africa had enough arable land to feed itself and become a net food exporter, instead of shipping in $24-billion worth of food each year.

Graduating some of Africa’s 600 million farmers from subsistence and small-scale farming to greater levels of mechanisation would require not just access to finance and equipment but also training, said Smith.

Policies that stimulate interest in young people for careers in agriculture and make it easier for farmers to own land “have to be championed at government level and be addressed seriously at the level of the AU”.

In Africa, 80% of agricultural production came from small farmers, many of whom were rural women, he said.

“Women comprise the largest percentage of the workforce in the agricultural sector but do not have access and control over land and productive resources,” he said.

Smith said Agco was pushing to establish greater manufacturing capacity in the 31 countries where it had representation through its network of dealers and distributors.

Agco already produces tractors in Africa — in Algeria — but needs to accelerate the roll-out of factories and assembly plants if it is to take the 20% of the market it is targeting. Smith is promoting the idea that multiple fabricating businesses can be set up across Africa in partnership with Agco product distributors.

He said South Africa was a “great example” of a country where this could be done easily, as it would fit in with the government’s broad-based BEE programme.

In South Africa, Agco has a well-established relationship with Barloworld.

Clive Thomson, CEO of Barloworld, said the company had been working with Agco and other stakeholders on various initiatives in Southern Africa to improve the supply of equipment and to assist in enterprise and skills development.

“One of these initiatives has been to explore the possibility of local assembly/manufacture of agriculture products in South Africa,” said Thomson.

Something similar already exists in the Barloworld stable. Barloworld Power has started with the local assembly of some Caterpillar diesel generator sets at its facilities in Boksburg, which is supporting enterprise and skills development.

Asked how much money Agco planned to invest in what Smith called the “factory-in-a-box”, he demurred.

“We can reach our goals much faster if we have multiple assembly programmes rolling out in the 31 countries we are already in,” said Smith.

“I’m not scared of capital,” he added. “We have invested over $100-million in Africa and we will invest more.”

For farmers such as Sakala, the dream of more efficient, higheryielding farm operations is inching forward, but a lot of work lies ahead. Luckily the work has found a small but ambitious start in Zambia.

We have invested over $100-million in Africa and we will invest more