Mei 2014
76
ARC-GCI:
Contributing to rural growth
R
ural development in South Africa poses many challenges
in the process to establish sound and thriving rural
communities. According to the census of 2011 the rural
populationof SouthAfrica stands on 19,2million.
In a recent survey of the South African Institute of Race Relations
(SAIRR) the share of those living in rural areas dropped from 48%
in 1990 to 38% in 2011. The landscape of rural communities has
also changed over the past 20 years as many rural inhabitants are
abandoning agriculture in favour of various non-agricultural trades
offeringnew sources of income.
However, agriculture remains the backbone of many rural
communities. Thus, purposeful agricultural interventions that help
producers to improve their productivity resulting in a stronger rural
economy, will surelyhave an impact on rural development.
Since 1996 theARC-GrainCrops Institute (ARC-GCI) has committed
itself to rural development. Many community-based projects
have been implemented and producer organisational structures
strengthened. Theprojects arebuilt on the followingpillars:
Collaboration with all relevant role-players in an integrated
approach.
Promotionof interactiveproducer participation.
Assessment of agro and socio-economic conditions as thebasis
for growth.
Emphasising the importance of soils
– the basis of crop production
Information on the natural resource-base of the farming community
is seen as the basis for planning and future intervention. In a
partnership with the ARC-Institute of Soil, Climate and Water
(ISCW), assessments of the natural resource-base in the form of
a soil characterisation and land use planning were completed at
several farming communities served since 2003.
Following this, a number of “Know your soil” practical field sessions
were conducted. At these events producers were introduced and
exposed to learnmoreabout thephysical andchemical propertiesof
their own soils (
Photo 1
).
Protecting and revitalising the soils, a non-renewable resource,
rank a high priority at the ARC-GCI. Conservation agriculture (CA),
a newly promoted alternative production system, provides an ideal
opportunity to, in the long run; replenish thedegraded soilsofmany
farming communities towards its original statewithout an excessive
amount of external inputs.
Excessive nutrient mining took place over decades and adequate
plant nutrition is often cited as the most limiting factor to crop
production. These nutrition imbalances, however, should first be
addressedbeforeCAcanbepracticedand implementedsuccessfully.
Given the smallholder farmers’ precarious financial situation and
poor access to credit, this will not be possible without government
intervention.
Promotingmore sustainable cropping
systems
Crop production in many rural farming areas of South Africa is
marked by many risks and low crop yields are common. The ARC-
GCI addresses this problem at two fronts:
Combining water saving production methods
andwater efficientmaize varieties
Since 2009 the ARC-GCI, in collaboration with producer groups in
Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, Free State and North
West Province investigates the value of CA aimed at lowering the
risk indry areas inparticular.
In dry regions water loss through runoff and evaporation reduces
the level of plant-availablewater content of the soil,which is amajor
cause of low grain yields. Implementation of a well-tested and
appropriateCA system is regarded as thebestway to revitalise crop
production in the targeted areas.
Leaving a mulch of crop residue on the soil surface to serve as a
protective cover, a basic principle of CA is an effective method for
limiting these losses. The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)
project is another concerted effort by the institute inwhich a series
of drought tolerant varieties have been developed and are currently
introduced to various farming communities.
This was achieved by a comprehensive breeding programme
funded by the Bill Gates Foundation. In view of the need for food
security inour country, stabilising theyieldsof farmingcommunities
will remain a highpriority at theARC-GCI.
Crop rotation anddiversification
Maize is the most dominant crop in almost all rural areas of South
Africa. According to the publication
Trends in the agricultural sector
(DAFF, 2012) the area planted to maize by producers in the non-
commercial sector is 442 114ha.
In many cases, these production systems are characterised by
mono-cropping rather thanmore sustainablecultivationapproaches
such as crop rotation. As legume crops such as groundnuts,
soybeans, dry beans and cowpea are mandated crops at the
institute, these crops have been widely promoted as the ideal
rotational crops in the abovementioned community-basedprojects.
By means of on-farm experiments conducted in collaboration with
various producer groups and the improvement of access to seed
suppliers,manyproducers arenowmoreprepared toexpandon the
productionof legume crops (
Photo 2
).
Developing appropriate technology in
participationwith producers
The development of appropriate technology that can impact
cropping systems and bring on-farm change in rural communities,
is no easy task. However, projects such as the grain production
PHONNIEDU TOIT
and
ANNELIEDE BEER,
ARC-GrainCrops Institute
RELEVANT
