Farmers Under Pressure to Produce Greater Yields

An employee holds a handful of wheat grain at the Kaap Agri grain silo in Malmesbury, near Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. Corn advanced in South Africa, the continents largest producer of the grain, as prices rose in the U.S., which competes for African export markets. Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg

Greater yields will be the key as farmers, both commercial and smallholders, struggle to keep up with global consumption of crucial agricultural commodities such as maize, wheat and soya beans.

These products serve as staple foods in many countries around the world and various reports, corroborated by experts in the sector, agree that yield growth is under serious threat as the global population continues to grow under a pressurised agricultural sector.

Other threats to global food security are issues such as wasteful water use, inadequate infrastructure and climate change. Also, expanding markets and a rise in middle classes around the world and yield shortfalls have contributed to the high food prices, which have dominated agricultural discourse since last year.

At a Seed Information Day at Klein Karoo’s experimental farm at Bapsfontein on the East Rand, Lomo van Rensburg, the general manager of Klein Karoo, said food prices would continue to dominate agriculture and consumer forums for the next seven years.

World commodity prices are expected to remain high until 2020, while 52 percent of the population is expected to be part of the global middle class by 2030. In addition, the global population is expected to exceed the 9 billion mark by 2050.

Also, demands for nutritious plants for human consumption in developing countries will double in the year 2050. In order to meet demand, countries in sub-Saharan Africa will have to increase the production of crops by 300 percent.

In countries such as the US, various shifts in maize production have decelerated yield growth, according to a report released by international agricultural financier Rabobank’s food & agribusiness research and advisory department.

The report found that maize yields were likely to grow at a significantly slower rate than historical and trend line analysis would suggest.

These global issues will need to be addressed in order to keep the powder keg from blowing. However, the good news for local and international farmers in these scenarios is that the main driver in agriculture in the future will be the growth of the middle class.

Various tools and innovations can be used to take advantage of these situations, and can benefit both the smallholder and commercial farmer.

According to Van Rensburg, the most efficient way to utilise this growth is through increased yields and investment in technology, since agriculture is a technology-driven sector that is constantly changing.

Last year, 33 million hectares of biotech products were planted around the world.

In South Africa, biotech crops increased by 100 000ha during the same period. At a biotech press conference in Pretoria last week, Klaus Ammann, a biotech scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Bern in Switzerland, said hectares had continued to increase for the 14th consecutive season to a record high of 2.3 million hectares compared with 2.2 million in 2010.

“Biotech maize had occupied 1.873 million hectares or 72 percent of an estimated total of 2.6 million hectares of maize commercially planted in South Africa,” he said.

Also, higher demand saw soya bean plantings increase by 20 percent from 390 000ha in 2010 to an estimated 450 000ha, added Amman. “In one way or another, this grain has been consumed annually by 40 million South Africans, 800 million broilers, 1.4 million feedlot cattle and 3 million pigs slaughtered at formal abattoirs.”

Hunger alleviation efforts in rural Africa were often hampered by poor information, lack of guidance services, as well as a lack of affordable advice to small commercial farmers.

According to Van Rensburg, this prevented them from producing more food and hindered the use of more technologically advanced seed lines with which they could reap more benefits from their farming businesses.

“Counsellors and farming advisers are very important role players in the production cycle. 

They are the people who advise farmers on the appropriate and best tried and tested farming practices. This includes… essential knowledge such as when to plant what and how to implement newly researched techniques for the management of the seed and the soil,” he said.

Van Rensburg believes that the latest technology and access to good seed and other inputs, would remedy the situation, coupled with best management practices for both large and small commercial farmers.

Klein Karoo’s mentoring programme teaches small commercial farmers to cultivate plants in greenhouses (under shadow nets) by using the best available genetic plants for markets that are subject to stressful conditions.

The programme includes initial training and scheduled visits by specialists to supply the farmers with information. This can serve as a key to unlock the potential of smaller commercial farmers to fight hunger and to address the uncertainty of food production. 

By Ayanda Mdlu@iol.co.za