Download Post apartheid farming in South Africa: a new struggle against

Post apartheid farming in South Africa: a new struggle against climate change
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South African Sidney le Fleur’s fledgling career as a honey bush farmer in South Africa’s scenic
Western Cape province has proved to be a mixed experience thus far, due to the impact of climate
change.
After establishing the Ericaville Farming Trust in 2000 and securing a 40 hectare tract of land near
the upmarket beach resort of Plettenberg Bay, they were able to expand the production operation to
over 14.5 hectares by 2005 -- the year they also first got involved with Fairtrade – due to their initial
good harvests.
Everything went according to their business plan in those early years, as the honey bush was selling
well and growing the plant was a low maintenance activity that did not require a large work force. The
farm needed only three full-time staff to tend to their crops until harvest time, when teams of 15
workers are hired at a time on a short term bases to bring in the matured herb.
“We were very excited to get into farming because it is in our blood. During the apartheid era blacks
and Khoi people weren’t allowed to own farms, so when the opportunity arose post-apartheid to get
into farming we were very keen to do so.
“We decided to do everything scientifically, and had a soil analysis done on our land. This showed
that the type of soil we had was good for cultivating honey bush, bucha and proteas. We did some
market research and found that the demand for honey bush had been growing for seven years.
“Initially we sold raw product, but after the success of the first few years we began to add value, and
started processing the honey bush -- which is used in a herbal tea – ourselves through outsourcing
and selling it to companies linked to Fairtrade,” he recalled.
However, the early successes the Ericaville Farming Trust experienced were quickly tempered by the
combination of drought and floods that hammered their region continuously over the following five
years. Between 2005 and 2009, unseasonal high rains caused widespread flooding that swept
through their fields, causing massive damage to the honey bush plants. Subsequently, the region has
been struck by an on-going drought, which continued until early 2011.
“In the year following the first floods in November 2005 we lost 13 percent of our honey bush crop,
because of recessive water from the floods seeping into the soil. This continuously wet soil gave our
plants a disease called root rot, which causes them to decay. Each year we lost more and more of our
honey bush to the disease until we were down to only seven hectares. We decided to build a dam to
try and mitigate the effect of the floods, but then the weather patterns began to change and the
flooding stopped in 2009.
“Since then we have been hit by the worst drought in 130 years, which has wiped out another 2.5
hectares of our crop, leaving us down to only 4.5 hectares. Last year we had to replant because we
did not have enough honey bush to produce a viable crop,” he said.
The total cost over the past six years to the Ericaville Farming Trust to replant their honey bush crop
and introduce measures to adapt to climate change has been around R823,000 (€75,000), estimated
de Fleur. The cost of the plants amounted to R290,000 while the cost of adaptation was put at
R533,000.
This financial outlay has allowed the trust to replant five hectares of new honey bush, build higher
ridges around their fields to protect against flooding, and to put in a drip irrigation system to combat
the effects of drought.
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Researched and written by Bill Corcaran, an independent journalist working on behalf of Fairtrade Africa.
A further step they have taken to protect against natural disasters is to establish firebreaks between
the crops so that if a fire strikes – and seasonal wildfires are common occurrence in the Southern
Cape – they can stop it spreading to other areas of the farm.
“We received help from the Western Cape department of agriculture disaster fund, and also took out
massive loans to help pay for all the improvements we have made. Unfortunately the beneficiaries will
see no dividends for the next five years as we must pay off what we have borrowed,” he said.
Although Ericaville Farming Trust stopped selling to Fair Trade markets for a short time due to
problems meeting the standards– due to the effects of climate change – it is once again on the verge
of entering the market by acquiring Fairtrade certification, according to le Fleur.
“Our buyers are keen that we are organic and that we sell to the Fair Trade market. In the case of
Fairtrade, one of our German buyers is paying for the cost of the certification process, so we expect to
be a member of the scheme again soon,” he explained.
Getting involved with Fairtrade has also proved helpful because they receive a guaranteed price of
R45 per kilo of honey bush, which is R9 more than the amount farmers currently get on the open
market. However, le Fleur says there is also the pride of knowing that your products are on the
shelves of supermarkets in EU countries, and your story of humble beginnings is told on the
packaging. But there are also other reasons that being involved with Fairtrade has proved beneficial.
“The Fair Trade movement has links with other non-government organisations (NGO) that work in the
environmental field. We have linked up with a group called the Environmental Monitoring Group
(EMG) in Cape Town that has a Fair Trade division.
“Ericaville together with EMG are staring trials (October 2011) on different species of honey bush that
have commercial value. These trials on the different species as well as different planting methods will
help select the right crop and planting methods that are adoptable with these changes in the region,”
he said.
In addition, EMG has established (July 2011) a small weather station on the Ericaville farm that
measures temperature, wind speed and rainfall every hour. Quarterly long term weather forecasts
from the South African weather bureau are also provided to Ericaville by EMG. This helps Ericaville in
their planning of farming activities. Although most of the problems they have experienced to date have
been due to climatic events, like drought and floods, le Fluer says even the small changes in weather
patterns can have a significant effect on a crop’s yield.
“Now we are getting a lot of wind and this translates into a lower growth rate, and smaller crops. We
are planning to plant lemon grass to act as a wind breaker in every other row of honey bush. This will
solve the wind problem, but it all costs money. We have taken out huge loans to allow us to continue
in business.
“So we have no money to insure our crops against climate change induced losses. If we get hit by
something else, like a fire, it would put us out of business,” he concluded.
Ends