adminCharles Dhewa Correspondent
While African economies have seen several approaches to agricultural development, what is clear is that no single approach or organisation can succeed on its own. For all its support from development agencies and policy makers, contract farming has showed its highs and lows. If contract farming was the only ticket out of poverty, most farmers who have been contracted to produce cotton, tobacco, sorghum and dozens of other commodities for generations would have completely moved out of poverty into sustainable self-reliance.
The fact that transformation is taking too long suggests a lot is still unknown. Over the past few years, organic production has started receiving a lot of attention and support in ways that do not adequately show how its merits outweigh limitations. It seems the search for solutions will continue embracing diverse approaches.
Confronting the hegemony of some approaches
Although it seems to continue receiving more support from agents of modernisation, industrial agriculture has begun to show its limitations. In countries like India where it was initially implemented, industrial agriculture has not been a holistic solution.
While it ensured high yields, it does not safe-guard nutritional security that was guaranteed by the local diversity of agricultural commodities.
The same situation is beginning to happen in African countries like Zimbabwe where many people are beginning to question industrial agriculture’s capacity to ensure the availability of enough calories to all people consistently.
On the other hand, organic production is trying to be part of the solution but there are still several knowledge gaps. Development partners promoting organic production are not yet doing so from an evidence-based position but from an advocacy perspective.
There is need for reliable evidence as opposed to blind activism. That is how African countries can move forward in transforming the agricultural system towards sustainability and a more equitable distribution of power and resources.
Making sense of high value
commodities
Meanwhile, high value crops like lettuce, green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, ginger, garlic and peppers (green, yellow and red) are gaining a foothold in Zimbabwe where they command firm prices. However, they have to be produced close to the market.
Unless you have refrigeration, you cannot travel 100km to the market with these commodities. In the informal market they will have to be exposed to sunlight for hours leading to loss of quality and taste, especially carrots and green peas.
Many farmers are convinced that producing high value crops is a model for cold chain.
Such commodities are for niche market and high income earning consumers who favour buying from food chain stores where refrigeration and other handling facilities are available.
Methods of payment like plastic money makes it possible for these commodities to be embedded in supermarket shopping practices. While prices are good, these crops are not recommended for thousands of smallholder farmers because the market is small.
The value of high value crops is also determined by particular consumers’ levels of income, especially those who have nurtured tastes for such commodities in the market. However, during unstable economic conditions, these high value commodities are not preferred by most households.
They are more of additives to other forms of relish and are produced by people closer to the market, for instance urban and peri-urban producers who can also supply their neighbours.
Within a residential area, supplier of carrots can be known and depended upon by neighbours. Peri-urban producers have to establish a relationship with a food chain store if they are to take it as a business.
We have not developed preservation methods like drying these high value crops which are mainly consumed while fresh when their nutrition is said to be high. You can dry leafy vegetables and cabbages but cannot dry carrots and green peas in ways that preserve their nutrition.
However, you can produce for household nutrition and only take surplus to the market. In terms of demand, very few people can buy five kilogrammes of chilli. It is bought in smaller quantities just for adding flavour to food.
Same with ginger and garlic which are not bought in high volumes. In a household these commodities can be consumed selectively. Only the father and, may be, mother can eat chilli, ginger or garlic, constituting one percent of the household. Young children cannot eat chilli or ginger in large volumes.
Evolving characteristics of
agricultural value chain actors
Given an increase in the amount of information and sources, many farmers and traders now need few rules of thumb rather than a lot of information.
Contrary to the widespread notion that the customer is always right, informal markets are revealing the great extent to which many customers learn from traders, farmers and other actors who frequent informal markets.
Since not every value chain actor can possibly know everything, they thrive on trusting other people’s knowledge. Some of the key characteristics of smart agricultural entrepreneurs include:
Very dynamic and responsive to environmental changes.
Driven by owners’ characteristics and personality traits.
High commitment to succeed because the enterprise is a major source of livelihood.
Customer base built on networks, trust and relationships.
Customised products and services.
Exposed to “free” skills and knowledge transfer for business and products/services improvement.
Beyond facts and figures
From eMKambo’s experience, many farmers no longer need too many facts and figures but solutions to their points.
They need information on a just-in-time basis not just-in-case it becomes useful in the future.
Unfortunately, most external capacity building interventions are based on just-in-case knowledge provision approaches on the assumption that communities will use that information when the project comes to an end.
Value chain actors are realising that it is no longer enough to celebrate a few field days. Success comes from drawing on information from different parts of the agricultural sector, generating a complete on how actors engage and retain knowledge as well as customers.
Strengthening knowledge
ecosystems
Knowledge management is more than information and technology but extends to building a network of committed people from different persuasions. It does not help for knowledge experts to continue sharing knowledge among themselves.
Knowledge mobilisation has to be stepped up through communities and that is where indigenous knowledge becomes superior at enhancing social inclusion.
Efforts should go into understanding indigenous businesses in rural areas, growth points and high density areas in terms of the calibre of consumers who buy from them.
This can feed into analyses that take into account volumes of commodities going into different markets. Aggregation is about responding to the market and one has to know the end user.
Ultimately, creative value chain actors can begin to tease out options for extending periods in which seasonal commodities like sweet potatoes can be supplied for various uses including processing.
Tasting the market differently and walking the whole length with different agricultural commodities is a fundamental process in dealing with narrow agricultural margins and slow growth.
Since knowledge generation goes beyond the mandates of many international development organisations, there is need for ecosystems knowledge that bring everyone together.
African agriculture cannot afford to continue suffering from poor and fragmented data whose accuracy and accessibility remains questionable, although ICTs are becoming ubiquitous.
When agricultural value chain actors lack insight into the broader context in which agricultural commodities compete, they are less likely to recognise opportunities and threats.
In the absence of robust evidence, part of the agricultural sector such as the seed industry will continue to reach different conclusions about their agribusiness priorities, based on incomplete evidence. In such situations, the consistence and sustainability of the entire agricultural sector remains a dream.
Charles Dhewa is a proactive knowledge management specialist and chief executive officer of Knowledge Transfer Africa (Pvt) (www.knowledgetransafrica.com ) whose flagship eMKambo (www.emkambo.co.zw ) has a presence in more than 20 agricultural markets in Zimbabwe. He can be contacted on: [email protected] ; Mobile: +263 774 430 309 / 772 137 717/ 712 737 430.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter