From farm to fork

Training farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa in how to effectively manage produce after it has been harvested was one of the principal aims of a joint project between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“This project was launched in 2006 as farmers struggled to cope with losses after harvests and in meeting new food safety and quality standards,” said Timothy Williams, Head of the Secretariat’s Enterprise and Agriculture Section.

In recent years many of these farmers have lost between 30 and 40 per cent of the total output of basic staple foods, and losses in fruit and vegetable crops have been as high as 50 per cent, he explained. This has meant many have not been able to respond to new market opportunities.

“The alleviation of rural poverty depends on the successful integration of small farmers into expanding agricultural markets,” observed Mr Williams.

Consequently, as part of this collaborative project, a training workshop for trainers who provide advice to farmers was held in Tshwane, South Africa, in June 2006, which looked at ways to improve the quality and competitiveness of produce from small farms.

The core curriculum of this programme focused on practical approaches to improve post-harvest operations and assure the safety and quality of horticultural produce. It also looked at ways to organise the supply chain to improve the competitiveness of both farmers as well as small businesses in domestic and regional markets.

From this project, a two-volume training manual has recently been published by the Secretariat and FAO which provides trainers with the technical background to help farmers stimulate improvements in fresh produce supply chains across the region.

The authors* of ‘Horticultural Chain Management for Eastern and Southern Africa’ emphasise that many small-scale farmers within this region are unable to satisfy market requirements for horticultural produce in both importing countries and urban centres throughout the region.

This is due, they argue, to small operation size, poor organisation, use of low technologies, dependence on unskilled labour, lack of capital and poor support services. As a result, supermarkets, exporters and packing houses are wary of working with these farmers because of concerns over quality and reliability of supply.

In the publication the authors conclude that without increasing skills and capacities to assure safety and manage quality and information, those countries would be unable to take advantage of global changes such as rising per capita incomes, increased female employment, consumer interest in healthy living, and the growth of supermarkets in developing countries.

The training manual looks at factors that affect the quality of produce such as plant diseases, insects, and water contamination. The authors also show how effective it can be for small-scale farmers to form collaborations, which opens them up to more access to technology as well as credit from banks.

*The authors of the manual are Lise Horsten, A Lombard, Divine Njie, Dharini Sivakumar, Rosa Rolle and Hester Vermulen.

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