Agriculture & Agri-processing
• Varied soils allow for a large mix of crops
to be cultivated
• The Glen Agricultural College is being upgraded
The Free State is an agriculturally rich province. The sector contributes approximately 7% to the provincial gross domestic product (PGDP) while 14% of South Africa’s agricultural GDP is generated in the Free State. The province supplies significant proportions of the nation’s sorghum (53%), sunflower (45%), wheat (37%), maize (34%), potatoes (33%), groundnuts (32%), dry beans (26%), wool (24%) and almost all of its cherries (90%). Red meat and dairy are other important products.
The Free State is a summer-rainfall region, with mean annual rainfall of 532mm. The climate, soil types and topography vary greatly within the province, with plains in the west and mountains in the east. The western and southern areas are semi-desert, with some Karoo vegetation occurring in the south. An escarpment sharply separates the province from its southern and eastern neighbours, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Just over 90% of the province is agricultural land, with 32% of 11.6 million hectares classified as arable and 60% suitable for pasture.
The percentage of people employed in agriculture has declined (22% of jobs in the 1960s compared to about 11% in the 1990s) but more than 100 000 people are still employed in the sector and many thousands of people are characterised as ‘farm dwellers’. With more than 8 500 farms, the Free State has the largest number of farms of all South Africa’s provinces.
The provincial Department of Agriculture received an allocation of R400.5-million in the 2009/10 budget, with programmes such as the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, and Infrastructure Enhancement Allocation and Land Care projects receiving priority.
A goal of the provincial government is to bridge the gap between commercial farmers and emerging farmers. A major refurbishment of the Glen Agricultural College, near Bloemfontein, took place in 2008, amounting to R10-million. A further R30-million has been allocated. The 5 800-hectare venue has an experimental farm on it and will soon become the headquarters of the provincial department. It is intended to become a Centre of Excellence for innovation and technology transfer.
A shortage of technical staff within the provincial department is being addressed through specific budget allocations and in-house training. A new epidemiology unit is being created within Veterinary Services to better be able to respond to disease. The Kingdom of Lesotho was the recipient of 30 000 doses of rabies vaccines from the Free State in 2008, and the mobile-clinic services for animals serviced many communities.
Financing the sector
All of South Africa’s four large banking groups
have agri-business sections and are well
represented in the Free State. The Land and
Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa
(Land Bank) is the statutory body with a
mandate from national government to support
agriculture. The bank offers a range of retail
and wholesale products for commercial
and emerging farmers and for related agribusinesses.
The Land Bank has three offices
in the Free State, in Bloemfontein, Kroonstad
and Bethlehem, which runs a satellite office in
Phuthaditjhaba.
Performance
The Free State’s agricultural sector is performing
well relative to other sectors. This is not entirely
unexpected, as in difficult times consumers cut
back on luxuries but still need food, but it does suggest that the Free State’s agricultural sector
is robust. Over the last few years, input prices
have increased, demand has fallen and so have
agricultural prices. Farmers in the province faced
bad debt-to-asset ratios and overall profitability
was in steady decline between 2002 and 2006.
Recent performance, however, suggests that
good policies and hard work have succeeded
in turning things around for the better
Although the province’s overall economic growth faltered in 2008, down to 3.1% according to Sake24’s Free State barometer, the present agricultural index increased 47.5% year on year. This was mainly based on the performance of the field-crops subsector (sunflowers, soya, wheat and maize), which rose by 74%, but meat grew by 10% and fruit and vegetables also performed well.
Many small towns still rely on agriculture for their livelihood, and agricultural shows or festivals associated with animals or produce are increasingly being used as tourism-marketing tools. Ficksburg’s Cherry Festival is the best known of these, but towns such as Fouriesburg (asparagus) and Philippolis (witblitz) are others whose economy receives an annual boost from these popular events. Sheep are at the forefront of the BibberChill Festival, held in the southeastern town of Smithfield. The name of the festival is taken from the state of the weather when the event takes place – in June!
The biggest agricultural show (and the second biggest of its type in the world) is held every year in Bothaville in the north-west. More than 20 000 visitors descend on this small town, also known as the mielie (maize) capital of South Africa, to experience the Nampo Harvest Festival held every year in May.
The event has a significant economic impact on the town and district. Not only has it led to more guest houses and bed-and-breakfast businesses being established, but a network of people willing to offer accommodation for the duration of the festival created an entirely new income stream for the town, and also kept a large number of potential customers for the festivals’ stalls in Bothaville for an extra day.
An innovative group called the Maize Capital Tourism Forum has established their own grading system for the part-time guest houses, starting with luxury accommodation graded as Golden Maize, through White, Yellow and, finally, Green Maize accommodation to describe more basic facilities on offer. Bothaville also hosts a food and witblitz festival in October and houses the headquarters of Grain SA.
Crops
Crop production represents about two thirds of
the province’s gross agricultural income. The
main crops are maize and wheat. The five-year
average for the area of maize planted to 2005 in
the Free State, was just over a million hectares,
on which 3.187 million tonnes were produced.
Among the major challenges faced by maize
farmers are long droughts and distorted
international pricing, which make it difficult
to be competitive.
Wheat flourishes in the eastern districts of the Free State where between 650 000 and 740 000 metric tonnes are harvested every year. Most South African wheat is of the breadwheat variety.
Sunflowers, sunflower seeds, sorghum and soya beans are other major crops. In 2006/07, the Free State accounted for 204 000 tonnes of the national sunflower-seed crop of 520 000 tonnes. Forty percent of the province’s potatoes are cultivated at relatively high altitudes.
Asparagus and cherries are the two major crops of the north-east. Altogether about 40 000 tonnes of fruit and 100 000 tonnes of vegetables are produced in the Free State annually.
Floriculture
About 1.2 million tonnes of cut flowers are
exported annually. Most of them are grown
in the north and north-east of the Free
State, relatively close to Gauteng’s OR Tambo
International Airport for quick distribution. This
is a highly technical industry, requiring lots
of monitoring for entry into highly regulated
markets. The Netherlands is the principal buyer
of Free State flowers, with Switzerland and
Australia being other destinations.
Livestock
Livestock cultivation accounts for 30% of the
provincial gross agricultural income. Cattle
farming is found all over the province, but sheep
farming is mostly restricted to the drier southern
areas, where merino sheep are popular.
Abattoirs in the Free State produce wet salted hides for tanning, but most of these have to leave the province to be further treated. Cow, sheep and ostrich hides are widely available, and the European Union is the biggest market for these. World demand for leather is increasing, so the conditions for investors to set up agri-processing plants in the Free State are good and prospects of running a successful business are on the up.
Agri-processing
Rich as it is in livestock and produce, the Free
State is deficient in processing facilities. Of the
agri-processing done on its produce, only 11%
occurs in the province. With an unemployment
rate of 34% (and 45% for people under 30), there
is a pressing need to increase production facilities
in the province. This would also assist in
providing food security. The provincial development
agencies are actively seeking investors in
this field.
In the southern Free State, there are plans to produce pulp, resin and natural rubber in a blackempowerment exercise that would use agricultural by-products. The province has a number of abattoirs and dairy-production facilities. There is also a large fruit-juice-concentrate concern, Frucon Foods, which has a factory in Bloemfontein.
Agriculture by district
Xhariep district
Sheep are mostly found in the dry southern
areas of the province. Irrigation schemes, such
as the one at Jacobsdal, allow for the production
of grapes, with Landzicht and Wilreza Cellars
being two of the main wine producers. The potato
is the other main crop to benefit from irrigation.
Walnuts are cultivated near Rouxville.
Motheo district
Open grass plains characterise this central
section of the province, with mountains in the
east. Commercial livestock farming, notably at
Mantsopa and Naledi, is the main form of farming,
while the eastern area produces potatoes
and sunflowers.
Lejweleputswa district
This district contains most of the province’s gold
mines, but it has riches above the ground as
well. The Vals River irrigates the region well and
maize is the main product, but wheat, sunflowers,
nuts and vegetables thrive here too. Welkom
is the site of a pecan-nut project. Livestock and
dairy farming complete a diverse farming portfolio.
Bothaville is the centre of maize farming and
Virginia is an important railhead.
Fezile Dabi district
This northern section is known as the
breadbasket of South Africa. The Vaal Dam
provides a plentiful water supply to support
the extensive production of maize, wheat and
sunflowers throughout the region. Around Parys,
tobacco, maize, sorghum and cattle are also
farmed, while Vredefort also supports peanut
crops. Kroonstad is an important town for the
regional agricultural economy, containing large
grain elevators and railway-marshalling yards.
Thabo Mofutsanyana district
Fully 90% of South Africa’s cherries are produced
near the town of Ficksburg, which also houses
two asparagus factories. Both green and white
asparagus are produced in the district, which
is hilly and well watered. Soya,
sorghum, sunflowers, potatoes and
wheat are other important crops.
Areas around the towns of Reitz
and Bethlehem are conducive
to horticulture.
The many waters of the area, like the extensive Sterkfontein Dam, make for attractive destinations for investment in aquaculture. Trout fishing is already well established as a leisure industry.
KEY CONTACTS:
Agricultural Economics Association
of South Africa: www.aeasa.org.za
Agricultural Research Council:
www.arc.agric.za
Agri South Africa: www.agrinfo.co.za
BibberChill Festival:
www.bibberchill.co.za
Bothaville:
www.bothavillemaizecapital.co.za
Free State Department of Agriculture:
http://fsagric.fs.gov.za/
Land and Agricultural Development
Bank of South Africa:
www.landbank.co.za
Landzicht: www.landzicht.co.za
Maizenet: www.maizenet.co.za
National Department of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries:
www.doa.agric.za
Safex Agricultural Products: www.safex.co.za/ap/
