Farmers are the Source of Food Security in Every Country in the World
Today in South Africa, with statistics of 19,000 distressed farmers due to climatic and
economic challenges and 14 million people, primarily in Gauteng who go to sleep
hungry without a meal, we all need to assist proactively to empower those less
fortunate than ourselves.
SUNSHINE may be one of our countries greatest assets.
Sunshine can be used to spur many renewable energy projects and a 'SUN-TAINABILITY SUNFLOWER' cut flower and crop project. A catalyst to a new way of farming, positive and
productive partnerships in farming (already in the private sector pipeline) with futhering farming education and skills training. Creating farming partnerships with a share of profits and land shareholding between people of different demographics
around South Africa. Many more private entities can spur these initiatives! There is a pipeline of 30 of these initiatives waiting since Decemberr 2015 with the Department of Rural Development to be signed off. The transfer of property title deeds has been slow due to the lack of process. This is not the fault of South African farmers who aim to continue to provide the "efficient utilisation of land" and form partnerships with communities.
Most acclaimed South African artists and a few around the
world have painted the SUNFLOWER. These art works have become famous and
fetched high prices on auctions both today and over the years! The Constitution of South Africa provides for land reform. Unfortunately, this has not been effected by the powers that be? Which puts the frustration of those waiting at boiling point!
The Future of
Sunflower Production In South Africa - A study by the
Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), funded by the Oilseed Advisory
Committee (OAC)
FERDI MEYER and GERHARD VAN DER BURGH - Bureau for Food and
Agricultural Policy - June 2015
The imports of seed, oil and cake have gradually been increasing to meet
the rising domestic demand levels. With approximately double the amount of
crushing capacity available as the amount of sunflower seed that is produced
locally, the question arises why the local industry can’t fill the gap of
imports and increase the local level of production. Although the study took a
holistic view on the sunflower value chain, this article will mainly focus on
selected key drivers of sunflower seed production. Over the years, sunflowers have received the status of an ideal crop to
grow in South Africa under conditions of low-input farming and marginal
cropping conditions. Sunflowers’ ability to produce relatively consistent
yields under adverse weather conditions and their overall characteristic of
drought-tolerance makes it an attractive crop for producers in dryland
production regions. Sunflowers can also produce a crop on marginal soils with very little or
no additional fertiliser. In 1999 the sunflower area reached its peak when 828
000 hectares (Graph 1) were planted. Production is concentrated in the Free
State (FS) and North West Province (NW), which together account for 79% of the
national area planted to sunflower. However, one underlying factor stood out in all production regions for
why producers are reluctant to expand the area under sunflower production, and
that is that under ideal growing conditions or irrigation, sunflowers do not provide
the same upward potential as crops like maize and soybeans. As a consequence, many producers see the crop as a “catch crop” and
preference is not given to the timing of production, i.e. optimal planting date
and climatic conditions (soils might be too warm or there might be a lack of
moisture, etc.). It seems as if sunflower hybrids that are currently available in the
local market do have the genetic potential to produce higher yields.
Furthermore, the introduction of advanced Clearfield Plus sunflower breeds
offers a major benefit in the management of weeds and opens the opportunity for
growing sunflowers in no-till or minimum till farming systems. At the end of the day it all comes down to the competitiveness of the
industry. It is important to take a holistic approach since it is not only the
competitiveness of sunflowers relative to other cash crops at farm level that
counts, but also the competitiveness of the complete value chain relative to
the major exporting countries. The sunflower seed price is derived from the cake and oil prices and
since these commodities are imported, the domestic industry is facing stiff
competition from imported seed, oil and cake that can be traced right back to
farm level. For example, being a major exporter and therefore trading at export
parity levels, the average farm gate price in Argentina (converted to rand) for
the period 2010 - 2012 equalled R2 153/ton compared to the South African
producers who received an average farm gate price of R3 747/ton that was derived
from the import parity levels of oil and cake. Finally, it is important to note
that a number of issues related to the competiveness of sunflower seed
production were not discussed in this article. For example, the potential
premium on sunflower seed with high oil content or the development of niche
markets like the high-oleic market that has been expanding in Europe.
