A development programme aimed at small-scale farmers has allowed a young female farmer from Mutele to get a foot in the door of a major buyer of produce. The 28-year-old Azwikonei Ramalivhana is now producing ground nuts that are used by Tiger Brands to produce its iconic peanut butter.

Ramalivhana receives assistance from Tiger Brands’ Agriculture Aggregator model. This programme was introduced in 2019 and pairs small-scale farmers with aggregators. As fully fledged business entities, these aggregators procure from multiple farmers and enter into commercial agreements with corporates such as Tiger Brands, providing better guarantees on tonnage, delivery time frames, and quality standards.

According to Litha Kutta, Tiger Brands’ enterprise and supplier development director, many young people are looking at agriculture as a possible career. But, while many of these individuals are qualified to some extent, she says, they remain left out of the agriculture industry, either due to a “lack of access to develop their skills” or the need to receive “corporate assistance” when it comes to developing their entrepreneurial ambitions.

These issues speak to the greater challenge facing small-scale farmers who struggle to produce at the scale and quality that large food producers demand. Reaching this level of production requires development and support, often spanning several years – something that adds complexity to a corporate supply chain.

As a way to address this challenge, Tiger Brands introduced its Agriculture Aggregator model, which, through expert technical and management-skills support, helps small-scale farmers to compete at a commercial level. Since its launch, the programme has supported 157 black small-scale farmers and raised R54 million in funding.

In the case of Azwikonei Ramalivhana, she was paired with Mpumi Maesela, director of Servicios Empresaviales Holdings. Under Maesela’s guidance, Ramalivhana has been able to grow her enterprise, providing Tiger Brands with two hectares’ worth of ground nuts.

Ramalivhana cultivates a further eight hectares for herself, which brings in added revenue and enables her to hire one permanent employee and three temporary workers.

“I didn’t have a job or food for my family, so I decided to start planting okra, tomatoes and spinach,” recalls Ramalivhana, who started out with half a hectare of land. “I wanted to produce food for the people around me and try make some income for my family at the same time.”

At the beginning, Ramalivhana did not earn enough to pay for any help. This changed when she entered the Agricultural Aggregator Development Programme.

“There is a very real risk facing the survival of South Africa’s agricultural sector if we don’t encourage more young people to participate in it,” says Kutta. “These graduates are an untapped workforce with a keen interest in agriculture. It will benefit us all to help nurture them by removing barriers to entry, so that they can make a valuable contribution to the sustainability of agriculture.”

Zoutnet | News | Young farmer now grows nuts for SA’s top brands