Varied Tech Solutions Required For Small-Scale Farming

The dual nature of South Africa’s agricultural landscape precludes a one-size-fits-all approach to technology solutions. Small-scale farmers have limited budgets and challenges that cannot be solved without taking their distinctive circumstances into account.

- Lindi Botha

Progress in agriculture depends largely on implementing technology that can improve yield, reduce inputs and increase efficiency. But while commercial farmers in South Africa are increasing their use of such technology, boosting their businesses further, those without the means to employ these solutions are falling behind.

Delegates and speakers at the Africa Agri Tech conference held earlier this year in Pretoria expressed their concern over the widening gap in production and profitability between those who could afford to implement modern solutions, and those who could not.

Lack of money

Speaking at the conference, Farmer’s Weekly editor Denene Erasmus said that developers of technology needed to change their mindset about how much disposable income African farmers had.

“Cost is a major impeding factor for technology adoption and mechanization in Africa,” said Erasmus.

“The applicability of technology is also a problem because it can’t just be imported, with developers expecting to cut and paste solutions. It needs to be custom-made for the particular challenges faced by farmers in this region. Distances to ports and roads, for example, make it very difficult to implement the technology. Some farmers are so far from any kind of road infrastructure that they would have to carry fertilizer for several kilometers from where it was delivered to their farms if they wanted to use it.”

Fast Facts

•  Farm technology needs to differentiate between solutions for small- and large-scale farmers.