THE TWO WORLDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE
Former SA president Thabo Mbeki spoke of two juxtaposed worlds in South Africa : addressing the University of Chile in 2005, he talked of South Africa 's "two worlds of poverty and affluence". Again later, he spoke of the huge gap between the "unemployable" of this country and a highly skilled sector. He also talked of a divided South Africa - one black, the other white. In May 2012, Mbeki's brother author and commentator Moeletsi Mbeki spoke of the gap between two more groups in South Africa - the builders whom he referred to as "Afrikaner nationalists", and the breakers and destroyers, the ANC nationalists.
South Africa's history has always been factional and fractious. A further dichotomy is that between those who talk about agriculture and make laws about it, and those who actually work at it: the farmers, the labourers, the researchers, the veterinarians, the technicians, the breeders, the exporters, the support organisations and all those who are part and parcel of actually putting food on the table for upwards of 50 million people.
The amount of government effort dispensed in talking about land reform, in criticizing commercial agriculture, in putting out green papers, white papers and discussion documents on how to "reform" South African agriculture is only matched by the time spent at conferences, summits, forums and political congresses by officialdom proposing "turn around strategies", "restructuring exercises" and the "rethinking" of yet another "five point plan"! The screeds written by academics at think tanks and universities and the long epistles composed by expensive consultants expounding the ideological theories of those who wouldn't know a corn stalk if they fell over one, are prolific.
Valuable time and money is wasted by commercial agriculture reacting to the above. If some of the politically ideological schemes had been allowed to take root without the robust response and resistance from organized agriculture, South Africa would have been a net food importer a long time ago.
Most people haven't the faintest idea about what goes on in South African agriculture, about the diverse facets of farming life, and what it takes to produce enough food to feed the country. It may be time to look at this, given the SA government's planned jamboree to be launched on the South African public and internationally around the forthcoming 100th anniversary of the 1913 Land Acts. Demands will be made for "more land", that land is an "emotive issue". With the 2014 elections around the corner, the ruling ANC has nothing to offer other than the hoary old land issue. White farmland is as good as it gets as an ANC rallying call for redress for the land that was "stolen" by the white colonialists and apartheid practitioners.
(TAU SA intends to address the question of land ownership, the history of land in South Africa and the current question of productivity in forthcoming International Bulletins).
ON THE GROUND
It's time to examine what happens on the ground, so to speak, as opposed to judging agriculture through the prism of the SA government's portrayal of farmers as recalcitrant, parsimonious, obstructionist and a group which needs to be "brought to heel". The suffocating legislation already in place has done much to drastically reduce the number of the country's commercial farmers, as has the farm murder rate, the debilitating taxes, the stock theft, the lack of subsidies and the conciliatory attitude displayed by government towards militant and politically-directed labour union violence and destruction.
Who makes the wheels turn in South African agriculture? A quick flip through an agricultural magazine reveals who the real underpinners of food security in South Africa are. While the government talks, the farmers produce with the help of myriads of people and groups who are supplementary to keeping SA farming up there with the best in the world.
An editorial "The worth of water and civil servants" (Farmers Weekly 22.3.13) should be required reading for everyone who cares about his next meal. The editor bemoans the fact that water is wasted to such an extent that 30% to 37% is lost to theft and leaks. But government is slack in the planned recovery they promised: efforts to get municipalities to plug their leaks and reduce losses "have been in vain", says the editor. "Leaking infrastructure must be repaired immediately", but we know it won't be. Not taking cognizance of this serious breach in the chain of optimal food production exposes this chasm between the reality and the ideological. (TAU SA has warned about SA's water issues for years.)
Further articles cover food safety and how a Northern Cape farmer has mechanized as a result of the recent wage strikes: "Using a self-propelled grape harvester, he completes the entire harvest in about a week, with one or two workers. In the past it would have taken between 60 and 70 workers at least three to four weeks. Thousands of rands have been saved on labour alone", says the farmer. There's a story about a black couple who were land beneficiaries, who worked very hard and struggled because of the government's inability to provide them with back up.
"We received nothing apart from the land itself. I used my own savings, had to start from scratch, buy livestock, fix fences and restore the arable land", said the new owner. He nearly went under but his farm is now being "recapitalized" by the government. (How can a farm be handed over without support to the beneficiaries?)
How to grow apples successfully is a good story, while the latest dairy prices and the decline in milk production caused by high input prices and no government price protection is reported. Drought conditions and beef prices are discussed, as are wool farmers' harvests and shearing shed hygiene. Abalone farming in South Africa is currently so progressive that the country is now one of the biggest producers outside Asia .
Columnist Peter Mashala criticizes the government land reform policy - "government throws a fortune at small-scale farmer development - yet fails to monitor the results", he writes. High food prices are explained, how to "design" a herd through cross-breeding is discussed. There are tips on horse breeding and care, auction notices by the score and, importantly, a record of recent farm sales all over the country. (Why does the government talk of farm expropriation when there are plenty of farms for sale at market prices?)
DIVERSITY
The diversity of farming in South Africa is laid bare in these agricultural magazines, from the dry cattle farms of the North West to the Western Cape 's wine industry. The relatively new fish farms are gaining traction in leaps and bounds, while the Eastern Cape 's mohair farmers produce the best clips in the world. The country's north east delivers top quality macadamia crops, bananas, semi tropical fruits and outstanding vegetables, while Kwa Zulu/Natal's sugar farmers offer bumper harvests each year. Then there are the huge swathes of corn fields in the centre of the country that produce the staple food of South Africa 's 40 million odd black population.
South Africa's commercial farmers received a bad press during the protests, riots and the inevitable violence that occurred some months ago as trade-unions and political wannabee's stoked the fires for an increase in minimum farm wages which incidentally, have been set by government. (There's an interesting Facebook contribution in the magazine from a farmer's wife in reaction to the Western Cape strikes: "We have noticed that three farms in the district are now working at 40% of their original staffing levels, and the price of cattle is about 20% down on last year. I cannot see that anyone is happy with the new minimum wage levels".)
SUMMARY
A really succinct summary of what it means to be a farmer in South Africa appeared in an Afrikaans Sunday newspaper some months ago, just after the minimum wage strikes and violence. We translate this for our international readership.
Farmer Dries van Schalkwyk says it upsets him badly to read trade union leaders' statements that farmers are "terrible" and "bad" because they pay their workers R69 per day, as if this figure alone represents the complete picture as far as labour is concerned on his farm.
"I am one of those "terrible" farmers who actually pays more than the basic minimum wage. There is a waiting list of workers who would rather work for me than live in a squatters' camp, or work for someone in town who does not give any of the supplementary benefits I give my workers. So let's look and see what I provide for them.
"They live in free housing which is of better quality than any low-cost houses in South Africa . I paid for these houses myself. Each house has a solar water heater, a full bathroom with a shower and a flush toilet. I also provide water and electricity, and proper sewerage. On top of this I am the service provider and maintenance man - the local municipality doesn't even answer the phone, never mind deliver service.
"If on a Sunday morning there is a shortage of water because someone left the tap on, or for some other reason, I cancel my church visit and immediately commence pumping water so that my workers can have water within an hour. In contrast to this, the neighbouring town has been without running water for two weeks! The sewage situation there is not much better, considering the stench emanating from that part of the world. It is so bad that my workers prefer to stay at their "terrible" boss's farm for their times off rather than go into town.
"In winter each house is warm because of the Fire World stove which I've provided to keep the residents warm in the cold Free State winter. My tractor is always ready to assist my workers to collect as much wood as they need for the stove.
"Every morning each worker receives two litres of fresh milk for his family. (If he buys this in town it will cost him around R450 a month). The local taxi driver asks R800 per month to drive my workers' children to school - I do this for nothing. I do most of my worker's grocery shopping for them in town, including the batteries for the stand-alone TV's which I bought for them and installed in each house. I take sick people who don't even work for me to the doctor in town. My wife acts as midwife for new births in the middle of the night because there's no ambulance. I stand in a queue at the bank to pay maintenance on behalf of my workers. I supply the corn for the workers' chickens, and then there's the free biltong which I give to each house every year, fruit from the orchard and medicine when they are sick.
"I recently invited an inspector from the Department of Labour to tally up the full cost of what each worker receives in cash and in kind, and this came to more than R2 000 per month. And this doesn't include the building and maintenance of their houses.
"No one is forced to work for this "terrible" farmer. They work for me because they know the total packet is a better alternative than what they would receive in town. This is their choice. And ask them if their employer in town will unblock their toilet before church on a Sunday morning!"
(Van Schalkwyk says that the minimum wage of R105 per day will increase his yearly expenses by R84 000. At the same time he must absorb a lower price for lamb at R14 per kg less than a year ago. For 800 lambs that is a decrease of R400 000 per year, while his wage account increases by R84,000 with the new minimum wage! What must he do? Only one solution - he must retrench his workers!)
This rural South African reality is so far removed from the talkers in government that something will have to give. In effect, however, the farmers have the power. They produce the food the ANC can't, and they provide the jobs for thousands of unskilled people who cannot find employment under an ANC government. In the end, the commercial farmer will decide the future of agriculture in South Africa . We believe the talkers know this only too well!
This article first appeared in TAU SA's International Bulletin, April 25 2013
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