AfPride Farming Solutions

04/12/2024

27/11/2024

🙏

01/05/2024

26/04/2024

THINKING OUT LOUD

COMMERCIAL FARMING

In this article i’m just thinking out aloud, please bear with me.

Before we delve into this issue, please allow me to at least clarify something about commercial farming.

As much as it can be about passion, primary goal of commercial farming is income, because of the heavy financial investments needed to get into this sector, the worst you can do for yourself is to fail BREAK EVEN and the best thing is to make profits.

Unlike subsistence farming where we sell surplus, in commercial farming the goal is to sell everything and realise some monetary value. This bring in the need to strategically approach the whole system considering market, type of crops, varieties, fertilizers, chemicals, rotation, backup, budgeting, expansion, marketing, farm accounting, agricultural economics, the opportunity costs that’s comes with changes and expansion etc… the list is endless.

Again commercial farming always comes with either high volumes or high standards which can be challenging to attain without proper management.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

First things first!!! The move to stop vegetable imports was a great move for local farmers, it gave us as farmers a more level playing field to compete for our local vegetable market. It eliminated the unfair completion we faced in terms of volumes. Imports came cheaper because they we being produced in very large volumes , a factor which we haven’t attained yet which again defines commercial farming as stated on the intro

The next move was government funding, kudos BWgovernment . This initiative propped a lot of farmers, stabilised and covered the gap and vacuum that was created by closing down the imports.

Dozens of months later we still haven’t reached our full potential yet. Get me right, we are doing our best, we are working flat out to feed the nation but considering the amount of money the government has dedicated to this sector, the number of graduates being capped at Botswana University of Agriculture & Natural Resources year in year out and the number of students doing agricultural studies we should be doing wonders, trust me on that one!!!!!

BRIDGING THE GAP

After the funds have been disbursed to the farmers , I believe we are omitting the most critical phase of the process which is the production phase where we utilise what we got from the government

THE PRODUCTION.

Sometimes it feels like we are hanging out the farmers to dry after giving them inputs and equipment. Most of these farmers are not equipped with knowledge or the workforce to survive the brutalities of farming. Obviously during this phase farmers have to depend on Balemisi, but is it enough?

Looking at the ratio of FARMERS PER MOLEMISI RATIO, we are not doing justice. Balemisi will always do their best, they will give their all, but, there is so much someone can do, considering the area they have to cover, the number of farmers they have to deal with, the varieties of crops they have to take into account, the paper and office work they have to do (I’ve worked in the government sector before, I really do understand)… it’s a bit too much. In the end farmers have to try their best under the circumstances with little to no supervision and assistance, despite having forked out crazy amounts of money.

Truth be told, very few farmers are able to employ and pay a fulltime qualified professional because of the scale at which we are producing (remember that commercial farming factor we said earlier?)

That being said, I feel like we need to do more to bridge that gap between Molemisi and the farmers to enhance productivity.
Why not incorporate that mentorship/consultancy/ supervision to be part of the funding package????? Where we say on that 50% 50% we are paying company XYZ to assist farmers with mentorship and consultancy to meet a certain standard that we set. Company XYZ will be operating on behalf of the government reporting back to Balemisi and ultimately to the Ministry of Agriculture

A situation where we say company WYZ will be responsible for the 3-4 production (1 year) cycles in this area, with this amount of control on the farm, provided they can be able to have a ratio of, 1 qualified mentor/ supervisor per 5 farms so that they don’t have to be working under enormous workload. What it means is, all those coming from BUAN can be incorporated into the sector, it means Balemisi can act as an oversight committee to oversee and do paperwork for evaluation and analysis.

This trick will help us steadily raise our standards/ quality and volumes and eventually open up export routes for us

This will also help stop the issue of giving the same variety of crop from pandamatenga to barolong despite having different climatic conditions because now, proper and accurate analysis can be done.

This can even be done to livestock production

CONCLUSION

This arrangement can minimise losses and enhance productivity. It will as well make full use of all those graduates who are not yet employed,

We have the potential to compete on the international markets (E.U. & U.A.E )

We have the government willing to finance us and make the environment as conducive as possible. Lets make the best out of it.

At AfPride Farming Solutions , we love you all
Good luck everybody as we strive to feed the nation.

And as I said... Im just thinking out loud fela.
Until next time
Im out!!!!!
Pride
72 650 987

National Development Bank - NDB
Ministry of Agriculture BW

22/04/2024

11/04/2024

Agricultural sector will start to really benefit us once we start to "really professionalize" it.

On this one I'm talking about doing proper market research and assessment to get the idea of what consumers and buyers really want.

The main weak link right now is between the production plans of the farmer and the preference of the buyer. Farmers end up producing things that they find hard to market.

This is worsened by the aggressive advertising by input suppliers who want to push their own products and increase their profits at the expense of farmers.
Farmers become victims of misinformation by service providers and input suppliers they end up going for expensive varieties, unsustainable production methods/ systems that may not prove to be as profitable as promised (be a millionaire in 12 months).

Let's be honest, mode of production / chain of production is not the main determining factor when consumers a choosing to buy our produce. With the current economic situation, price and quantity are the main factors that determine which product they are going to choose. Very few care about the variety, soil type,hydroponics, chemical control of pests etc. They want affordable produce.

However most farmers are pushed into getting expensive varieties that cut back their profits, setting up production systems that prove to be overpriced because they listen to the wrong side of the chain.

We listen to someone who Will say this variety will give you very big fruits, but when you get to the market they might want only medium sized fruits

We listen to someone who will say buy this system from me, its expensive because it produces fruits that have very very long shelf life, but when you get to the market you realise that they don't care about your very very long shelf life. They just want cheaper fruits.

Do your assessment right, do your market research well. That way you know what the market wants, you know what to give the market

Until next time
I'm out!!!!
Pride
72 650 987

11/04/2024

09/04/2024

TEXTBOOK FARMING

There are a lot of unsaid and unwritten laws that people tend to follow. There also written documents with a lot of misleading information. Some of the information we get is actually true, but if not adapted well and applied accordingly to suit your circumstances, it might do more harm than good.
Farming is a practical thing. Meaning, you have to look at the practicality side of things. Some things, ideas of knowledge, no matter how good they sound. They may not be practical.

Let's look at some of the instances where we need to be practical, and drop the textbook farming mentality

1.
The issue of cropping calendar has left a lot of people crying. This is when people follow a general guideline on weather patterns without looking at specific patterns in their area.
Frost attacks vary with each area... Some areas experience frost early, some late. Some areas experience light frost whilst some areas suffer heavy frost and some dont even get the frost spells.
People in wetlands, closer to rivers and dams might experience frost whilts someone in the same region or ward just few kilometers aways doesn't.
The calendar is just a general guideline, but you still have to deeply look at the weather pattern of your area so that you can plan accordingly and create your own calendar that suits you and your area.

2.
Another example is, textbook farming when some literature says "you need 50kg bag of basal fertilizer"
This wont say anything about the actual fertilizer, your soil test results, this wont tell you about your soil water holding capacity, and as a result, leaching tendencies of your soil. This wont tell your about how it might possibly rain in your area and wash away the fertilizer that you applied thus nullifying the whole procces.
Some fertilizer labels will be telling you of foliar applications, but they might not tell you about how you must stop using some type of chemicals that might be necessary for your production.. Some chemicals that you definitely have to use because of your production models, eg copper oxychloride do not do well with fertilizers that contain zinc. In the end spraying both will render both the fertilizer and the chemical ineffective resulting in direct and indirect losses .
But you would have followed instructions, didn't you????? !!! The instructions were correct but not suitable for you.

3.
There is no law that say Shadenets structures must be anchored by tyres.. Imagine the bulkiness of tyres and having to transport them to your farm 300km away.
If accessible and easy to deliver them to the farm.. Then yes use them. But if it is financially tough and logistically impossible, then other ways can be put into place. By just understanding the basic working principle of an anchor, you can realise that you have a lot of options at your disposal. All you have to do is find the option that suits your situation most.

4.
There is no law that says 1ha drip irrigation must be split into 4 blocks.. Why not 6, 8 or 10 if need be.? The scale at which you are producing each crop can tell you to do 10 blocks to avoid planting 2 different crops in one block, planting different crops in one block so will complicate your irrigation and fertigation process as they will have different water and nutrients needs and resulting in direct and indirect losses. So despite benchmarking at someone with 50 by 50 blocks in 1ha, if your production requires you to do 50 by25m blocks. Do so!! Dont just copy and paste.

5.
There is no law that says 1ha is 100m by 100m.. No!!! 1ha is 10 000m². So, if need be it can be 200m by 50m... Its still 1ha. Maybe you are avoiding a certain area that might be problematic to your production, maybe you want to allow accessibility. If your target is 1ha, then get your 10 000m² despite the measurements

Farming is a business that requires you to be INNOVATIVE, VERSATILE AND ALWAYS THINK ON YOUR FEET.
Without those attributes, you will go to every successful farm to benchmark but still find yourself in the same position.
Go out there and benchmark, come back and adapt those ideas and standards to suit you, your pocket, your budget, your production model, your weather patterns, soil type, workforce etc..

To sum it up, you can be more successful by benchmarking AND THEN adapting those standards, systems and ideas to suit YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, ENVIRONMENT, CAPABILITIES, BUDGET, NEEDS, MARKET, ETC.

Copy and paste will result in "i did exactly what you said but it didn't give the same results as yours"

Wish you the best
Until next time
Im out
PRIDE!!!!!
72 650 987

07/04/2024

DECISION MAKING

Debates on why to grow this crop instead of that one, why the market is flooded and what needs to be done are always raging. Truth be told., that subject hasn't been addressed well.

A lot of times we've seen decisions of choosing crops being based on being "different", "unique" or "there is no much of broccoli in shops" and the worst.... " people eat everyday"!!!!!!!!

However the idea of choosing crops is not centered around those. It is a decision that has to be made after looking at several factors that can determine the failure, success and the sustainability of the project. We are going to look at some of the factors.

PROFITABILITY.
This is the main factor that people would want to look at and rightly so. This is where we look at the return per p**a invested.
How are the profit margins.

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
How are the weather patterns in your farmng area, do the temperatures allow you to do a certain crop,
Does the rainfall pattern favour the crops you want to grow. In the end grow crops that can, not only survive, but thrive in that weather/climate

RESOURCES /EQUIPMENT /INFRASTRUCTURE
Do you have the proper infrastructure to do a certain crop. Some crops need to be done under greenhouse, no matter how profitable they may be. Without the required things, you have to fore go them. Balance things out and find the next profitable and POSSIBLE crop.

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE
Do you know how to grow that certain crop? No matter how profitable and having the infrastructure, do you know how to take that crop from being a seed till harvesting. Facebook is now awash of pictures being posted with the now common caption "balemi ke dire jang" or "selling cabbage for livestock" . And if we were to admit, by then, the damage will be irreversible.
This is one of main reasons behind most losses right now

LOCATION.
Where is your farm located and where is your market. Are you selling at your farm or transporting from the farm. If selling at the farm which crop are you likely to sell in that area.

If you are transporting, how far is the farm and how often do you have to travel for that certain crop. Is it worth the traveling, looking at the returns and the volumes. A crop might be profitable, you have the knowledge and equipment, but, you will have to make those long journeys to the farm more often to a point where it becomes unprofitable. This is where look at crops that allow that once a week or even those crops you harvest in a short space of time rather than the constant travels over a long period of time.

Again, some crops that can be used for fancy meals are more likely to be bought in Maun than in Molepolole. This is simply because of the tourism industry that is thriving in Maun. Agree or not, you will sell more cauliflower in Maun than you would in Molepolole

CONNECTIONS
When you are struggling with your crop and being turned away from every other shop, those same shops may be calling simeone to bring in some produce. The same produce they told you that they dont want. This is the reality we don't want to admit. Sometimes those connections can determine which crop to grow

SALVAGEABLE CROPS
This is something every start up farmer should consider. Some crops are salvageable, foe examples.. With cabbage you make dried vegetables, tomatoes you make tomato puree, maize you boil then dry it to make "lechothlo" (sp).
These secondary products can still be sold at a later date to try and trim back losses that may arise due to flooded market....
However some crops do not give you that chance, once you fail to sell thats it, you have lost. Its now up to you to see if you are capable of getting back into production after loosing or you need to play safe and stick to salvageable crops

SOIL TYPE
This is a more basic subject, some soils are not suitable for some crops hence the need to stick to to suitable ones

COMPLEMENTARY CROPS
Some crops compliment each other in such a way that having one crop will promote the selling of another. Try to think of having tomato and green pepper at the same time. To some extent selling one of them will convince the buyer to buy the other because they can simultaneously prepared in the same meal. This might be a reason to choose growing them.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
In some areas, weather conditions might now allow growing of certain crops during certain times of the year, no matter how profitable, you will still habe to avoid them during those periods

PEST AND DISEASE PREVALENCE AND MANAGEMENT
Choice of crop may be determined by the prevalent pest and diseases in the area. One might end up growing a crop that cannot be affected or resistant. Some crops maybe used as control measures on pests eg onions..

POPULATION.
The general pop**ation again can dictate in what quantities do we grow something. Most people want to copy the scale of production they saw in SA forgetting in SA they have a bigger pop**ation and have acces to export routes which we do not have.. We will be selling amongst ourselves until we secure our own export routes and destination

CONCLUSION

These are some, not all, of the factors that can help you choose which crop to grow based on your situation.
I highly suggest you desist from basing your choices on being "different and unique" as different and unique will not have market value.
The issue of I've seen it in S. A. SHOULD STOP!! Go and benchmark, come back and adapt to what suits you. Do what you can do, do what you need to do.
Your production needs to be tailor made to suit you, your pocket, your environment and your market.

Till then.
Im out
PRIDE!!!!

72 650 987

04/04/2024

We supply and install neat, strong and durable shadenet structures.

We assist farmers trying to get funding through I.A.S.

Call app 72 650 987

02/04/2024

When we say, "Your crop requires 150kg N/ha". We mean the amount of fertilizer required by the plants not the anount to be applied to the soil.

The amount that gets to the plant will vary due to different factors

*nitrogen contents in different fertilizers
*soil type (nitrogen is highly mobile once it gets in contact with water,) in sandy soils it tends to leach/wash away beyond root zone
*mode of application and application strategies
*Residual nutrients that are already in the soil etc..

A good calculated approach needs to be done to avoid under application or wastage of fertilisers.

Be wiser..

Until next time
Im out

Pride
72 650 987

02/04/2024

Respect

29/03/2024

2.2kw hybrid pump at 110m depth running on solar panels.

For your borehole equipment supply installation..
Talk to us.
Call app on 72 650 987

27/03/2024

https://wa.me/c/26772650987

Check our catalogue
We offer those services and more.
As long its about your farm or your farming issues... We will be ready to assist.

Why???.

Because

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25/03/2024

VALUE ADDITION

Value addition in our line of business comes in different forms. These are the scenarios that we should be looking at.

CONVENIENCE
Selling them the convenience!!!!
Not everyone is producing at a larger scale to be able to compete on the market where other producers will be saying "200 crates available". Small time players should add convenience value to their produce. This is a situation where you give an extra service eg delivery. You say, "i produce fresh vegetables and deliver them to your place"
This will allow you to charge an extra amount to maximise your profit.

For those who are employed, you can even come into agreement with your coworkers to say... I will deliver veges to you weekly and you pay me monthend, of course at an extra charge.

PREPARATION

This is a situation where you prepare the produce, slice, blend, pre-cook etc

1st scenario.
During my tertiary years, i once had a short stint with this other big, international tea company. I learnt that teabags are actually a byproduct of high quality export grade tea. That remaining dust is now packaged as teabags.

2nd scenario.
Most of the sliced up and pre-packaged vegetables found in retail stores are actually deformed and damaged products that are cut into smaller pieces that doesn't show the previous damages. Deformed carrots that are not sellable and other damaged veges are used for such.

So from these 2 scenarios we must learn how to deal with our own produce. Instead of throwing away overripr tomatoes, Why not make tomato puree to sell at a later date??? (especially in winter). Why not make dried tomato powder to sell at a later date during the tomato scarcity periods.

By doing it this way we are quite sure of getting the maximum we can ever get from our own production.

COMBOS
Making combo packages is another way of ensuring fast selling of your produce. Packaging tomatoes, onions, pepper etc... Or even those into small stock, broiler, offlayers etc can even make combos of meat and vegetables. This will help fast selling as well as a tiny bit of a price increase.

However all these strategies can come with their own demands and downsides depwnding on local laws, resources and a whole other limitations.
But for those who can, it can work in our favour.

The world is getting tougher and farmers are at the receiving end. The best we can do for ourselves is try and keep afloat.

Until next time
Im out
Pride!!!!
72 650 987

24/03/2024

1.5kw @ 100m