By Mabe, Royal

1. Entry Paths into the South
African Sugar Industry:
Implications for Emerging
Farmer Capacity Development
and the need for Extension
Services
Presenter by: Royal Mabe
School of Agricultural Science & Agribusiness, University
of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2. Overview
• Introduction
- Background
• Objectives of the study
• Entry paths into farming
• Mentorship in the South African Sugar Industry
• Results
• Conclusions and Recommendations

3. Introduction
• Reconstruction and Development policy initiatives in South
Africa (SA) post 1994
- Land reform, AgriBEE, Employment Equity,
Affirmative Action
• Land reform one of the landmark policies
- The mandate of SA’s land reform program
- Land redistribution has lead to the emergence of
inexperienced black farmers from diverse
backgrounds; and hence
- More demand for extension, pre and post-
settlement support services

4. Objectives of the study
• Report on some socioeconomic characteristics of the
surveyed emerging black sugarcane growers,
• Identify the entry paths of the surveyed emerging
black sugarcane growers into farming, and
• Make recommendations on how emerging farmer
capacity development could be enhanced through
mentorship and extension.

5. Entry Paths into Farming
• According to Reeve and Stayner (2006), transition
paths into farming are of three-fold (See Figure 1):
- The Common Entry Path: with both farming
experience and agricultural educational background
and manages family or own farm;
- The Less Common Entry Path: with both farming
experience and agricultural educational and manages
family, own farm or employed as a manager; and
- The Rare Entry Path: with agricultural education and
with or without farming experience and manages own
farm or employed as a manager.

6. Figure 1: Entry Paths into Farming
Farming Non Farming Non Farming Non Farming Non
Farming Farming Farming Farming
Common entry path Less common entry path Rare entry path
FROM
Full-time
Education
Post Full-time
Education
EDUCATION
BACKGROUND
Agricultural Non-Agricultural Agricultural Non-Agricultural
To Family farm Own farm Manager

7. Mentorship in the South African Sugar
Industry
• First formal mentorship was rolled-out from October 2003
to May 2005 by the SA Canegrowers’ Association
(SACGA)
• Programme involved mentoring and training
-Training consisted of 21 modules taught between
15 and 18 months
• SACGA ran second formal mentorship from June 2008 to
June 2009
- This study focuses on the 2008/09 programme

8. Definition and Purpose of
Mentorship
• KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and
Environmental Affairs (KZNDAEA) definition of mentorship
- A relationship between an experienced farmer/commodity
partner and an inexperienced farmer
• Purpose of mentorship
- Equip emerging farmers with vital skills needed to
successfully engage in commercial agriculture,
- Enhance post-settlement services and complement
extension services, and
- Promote sustainable land reform

9. Results
• The majority (81.4%) of surveyed growers were male
and 18.6% were female
• Growers were on average aged 51.51 years (the
youngest and the oldest aged 26 and 72 years,
respectively)
• On average, the growers participated in mentorship
for 6.29 months (with a minimum and maximum of
1.83 and 8.52 months)
• 19% and 9% of surveyed growers respectively had
agriculture and business-related educational
background

10. Results Conti…
• About 49% and 63% of the sample growers respectively
had prior experience in marketing and financial
management; where as
• 70% of the sample growers had experience in general
management.
• Nearly 9% and19% of the surveyed growers acquired their
managerial skills by managing sugarcane farms and
through formal training, respectively.
• Growers viewed mentorship and extension as important
sources of skills in sugarcane agronomic aspects; where
as
• Accountants and formal training were viewed as important
sources of skills in financial management; and
• Own experience was viewed as important source of skills
in labour management and transport to the sugar mill.

11. Conclusions and Recommendations
• The surveyed growers were mostly male and
relatively old and,
- The majority of the growers had no educational
background in agriculture and business-related
educational background
- The majority of the growers had prior experience
in general management but less experience in
managing sugarcane farms (i.e. rare entry path)
• Policy makers should therefore, design and
implement mentorship and other support services
that address the needs of farmers from diverse
backgrounds

12. Conclusions and Recommendations
• Mentorship and extension viewed as an important
sources of skills in sugarcane agronomic or technical
aspects
- Mentorship should therefore, not replace extension, but
should rather complement it.
• Accountants and formal training were viewed as
important sources of skills in financial management
• Own experience was viewed as important source of skills
in labour management and transport to the sugar mill
- Policy makers should therefore, do a detailed needs
analysis before implementing any mentorship program.

13. THANK YOU
This research was funded by the Botswana College of
Agriculture (BCA) and the South African National
Research Foundation (SANRF). Opinions expressed
and conclusions arrived at in this presentation are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
those of BCA and SANFR.