Transformation Projects
Projects links
- Grain SA Farmer development
- Nutritious snack Multimix development for addressing under and over nutrition and promoting small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (smme's) in low income communities
- Creating job opportunities in soy planting and micro or macro soy agroprocessing business to warrant food sustainability
- Advanced farmer input support — insurance, soil correction and mentorship
- Farmer support for sunflower farmers in the Free State and North West
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Grain SA Farmer development
Aim and methodology
In this application, we are requesting funding for Training courses, the Pula Imvula Newsletter, Oilseed production demonstration trials and mentoring for farmers who will be getting production assistance from various private companies/projects, initiated, and managed by Grain SA.
There is a very marked lack of knowledge and practical skills relating to oilseed production, marketing, and agri-business development and if there is to be real development in this sector, information and skills transfer is critical. Through these well designed and appropriate training courses, information transfers through the Pula Imvula Magazine, and the planting of oilseed trials (including hosting farmers' days), Grain SA plans to ensure meaningful capacity development for emerging farmers towards sustainable oil and protein seeds production.
Training
Progress is indeed being made by many developing farmers. In order to farm successfully, indeed farmers need access to land, mechanization and inputs, and most importantly, the skills and knowledge that will enable the farmers to use available resources efficiently. A total of 15 training courses are planned for the 2022/23 season.
The courses are presented to the farmers in their mother tongue, at a venue close to the farmers. The farmers are provided with a training manual for each course, as well as refreshments. The duration of most of the courses is a week with the morning's sessions being dedicated to the theory and the afternoons for the practical.
Pula Imvula
The Pula Imvula is a monthly newsletter that we prepare and distribute in 5 languages — English, Sesotho, Setswana, IsiZulu and IsiXhosa. The contents of the magazine are published monthly with information that is aligned to the farming operations such that farmers are immediately able to implement any emerging lessons. At least 16000 copies of the magazine are distributed to developing farmers and different industry stakeholders throughout South Africa.
The members of the study groups receive the Pula by post. Unfortunately, the quality of the postal services is often problematic, electronic versions of the magazine is also distributed and available on a monthly basis.
Trials and farmers' days
Farmers need to gain knowledge and experience of alternative crops in their rotations. In this application, we are requesting funds for the purposes of planting Oilseed crop trials where the farmers will be exposed to the planting of Groundnuts, Sunflower, Soybeans and Canola. A total of 10 trials are planned for 2022/23.
Results envisaged
It is envisaged that with this funding we would be able to:
- Transfer meaningful knowledge and skills to developing oil and protein seed producers that will motivate and capacitate them to become efficient, productive and sustainable.
Value for the industry
Grain SA has over 16 000 active developing farmer members, the majority of which are involved in a rotational grain production system including oil and protein seeds. There is also plenty of unused land available. There is significant room for increased oilseed production among developing farmers in South Africa. Grain SA believes that this intervention will increase oil and protein seed production in South Africa with greater value for food and nutrition security while offering more improved and healthy soils to the industry.
Limitations
The COVID-19 pandemic and the related regulations have the potential to complicate training contact sessions. As such, Grain SA will ensure that all facilitated courses are managed in a manner that complies with the safety regulations and ensure that farmers do not miss out on the required skills due to the pandemic. The Pula Magazine will be particularly helpful to continue transferring skills and knowledge with limited contact directly and between farmers.
Publication
Grain SA undertakes to continue to promote the OPDT in the Pula Imvula and SA Grain Magazines.
Trails will be promoted through farmers days and all other project activities will be republicized during the Grain SA Congress and other appropriate public platforms.
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Nutritious snack multimix development for addressing under and over nutrition and promoting small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (smme's) in low income communities
Needs assessment
The data collected during June/July 2021 to determine the type of snacks consumed and needed by consumers were analysed and a manuscript prepared. The manuscript reviewer's comments were addressed and resubmitted to the journal in May 2023.
Ibiyemi T, du Toit C, Oldewage-Theron. Snack consumption frequency of children and adults in the Vaal region of Gauteng, South Africa. HealthSAGesondheid (manuscript HSAG-2181).
Product development
The main goal of this phase was to develop ten nutritious snacks that are affordable and easy to prepare using locally available ingredients. Ten products — one soy rusk, muffin, granola bar, four trail mixes and three brittles — were formulated, biochemically and sensory analysed and shelf life testing was conducted. Steps A-H have been completed (figure). Thus, the ten soy snack foods development part of the project (Phase 1) was completed during June 2022.
The soy nut machine was moved from the Vaal University of Technology to UFS in 2022 and the soy nuts formed the basis for the soy snack development. The ten developed snacks in this study were of higher nutritional quality than available corresponding snacks in the South African market. The protein content of the soy rusks, soy carrot muffin, and soy cookies was more than twice that of corresponding snacks in the market. Similarly, granola bars, nut brittles, and trail mixes were at least 25% higher in protein than the corresponding snacks. The nutritional composition of the developed snacks also indicated that soy carrot muffins, soy cookies, granola bars, and brittles had dietary fibre content, which was more than twice the corresponding snacks in the market. The South Africa National Department of Health stipulates that a food product containing ? 2.5g/100g of dietary fibre can be considered a source of fibre. At the same time, those with ? 5g/100g of dietary fibre can be claimed as high-fibre food products (FACS, 2016). Based on these guidelines, aside from soy rusks, all our snacks provide >6g/100g of dietary fibre and can be regarded as high-fibre snacks. Furthermore, the developed snacks were lower in added sugar (200% lower), sodium (200% lower), and saturated fat than corresponding snacks in the market.
The cost analysis of the raw ingredients for all ten snacks was between ZAR 3.13 and 3.63 per unit (35-40g) price. This price was below the ZAR 3.75 cost of ingredients estimate to ensure the snacks would be at least 20% cheaper than the average snacks in the SA market. This estimate was based on the analysis that 33-35% of the developed snacks' final production costs will be the ingredients' cost.
The consumer panel in this study included 143 panelists (81 children and 62 women). Among the developed snacks, soy rusks had the highest overall acceptability. Similar to the soy rusks, nine out of the ten developed snacks in this study were liked (with an average mean score of 4 out of a 5-point hedonic scale) by consumer panelists. Furthermore, the result of the sensory analysis found that trail mix 1, which was neither liked nor disliked, was the least acceptable snack in the study. Trail mix 1 comprised soy nuts, raisins, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. The overall acceptability of the developed snacks was also evaluated based on ethnicity, educational status, income level, and among children and women. The acceptance of soy rusk and nut/seed brittle was lower among children and panelists who earned below the poverty line. In comparison, the overall acceptance of soy cookies was higher among Blacks/Africans compared to Whites. However, there was no significant difference in the acceptability of most snacks. A possible reason for the indifference in acceptability among children and women is that children consume identical diets and have similar preferences as their mothers. Likewise, the fact that there were insignificant differences in the acceptability of most snacks based on income, ethnicity, and educational status may translate into higher acceptability among the target population in South Africa, irrespective of racial/ethnic background, income level, or academic status. The study results further showed that the panelists were 'slightly likely' to purchase nine of the ten snacks. Comparing purchase intent by ethnicity, income, and educational status, no significant differences in most snacks' purchase intent was observed. Similar to the purchase intent, the women in the study indicated they were slightly likely to prepare nine of the ten snacks and were indifferent about preparing trail mix 3.
The microbial analysis of the snacks indicated the microbial stability of all the snacks after four months of storage except the soy muffins. After one month of storage and microbial testing, the microbial load in the soy muffin sample was more than the acceptable limits. This finding is in line with previous shelf life studies that have identified 8 to 14 days as the average shelf life of muffins when stored in an airtight container and produced without additional preservatives (Jadhav et al., 2021; Mout & Bora, 2020).
Overall, nine of the snacks we developed were dry, shelf-stable, microbial-safe products after three months of storage. Previous studies have shown that similar dry and baked products are safe for consumption for at least three to four months when stored correctly in an airtight container (Honi et al., 2017; Nandhini. S et al., 2022). Given that shelf-life of food products is influenced by several factors, including organoleptic, physical, and chemical properties, it will be beneficial for future research and endeavour's to expand on this study and assess the shelf-life of each of the developed snacks.
The soy snack development formed part of a Texas Tech University PhD student qualification. The study was completed, the thesis submitted, and the student graduated in May 2023.
In addition to the soy snacks, an additional goal was added to the project in 2022, namely: to meet the needs of consumers for plant-based meat products by developing an affordable, fresh soy-based, nutrient-rich (high-quality protein) mincemeat replacement, imitating the flavour, look and texture of 'animal' mincemeat. Three soy meat analogues were developed in 2023 and a preliminary tasting was conducted with the President of SAAFECS at UFS and teachers of BIGE in June 2023.
Next steps
- 2 manuscripts are currently being prepared about the development and sensory analyses of the soy-based snacks;
- Nutritional and sensory analyses, as well as shelf stable testing will be undertaken in the next phase;
- Commercialisation of the soy-based snacks into the informal market sector; and
- Acquisition of a soy cow at UFS to develop "dairy" soy products.
Nutrition education and soy consumption study
The objective of this part of the study was to sensitise parents and children about the health benefits of soy for human health and increased soy consumption to address food insecurity and malnutrition of school children in Ironsyde, Vaal region. A baseline survey for the nutrition education program was conducted during May 2022. During June, the nutrition education program was implemented, and soy and soy recipe books were distributed to the households. A refresher course was implemented, and follow-up measurements were taken in June 2023. Soy nuts were distributed to the parents for informal tasting at the nutrition education during June 2023. The soy nuts were very popular, specifically the chutney flavour.
In addition, the parents tasted the soy milk and soy yoghurt — produced from the soy cow - at the nutrition education program implementation and it was well accepted.
During November soy seeds were distributed to implement a soy garden at the Best is Good Enough Academy (BIGE) in Ironsyde. Unfortunately, the soy could not be harvested due to rabbits destroying the soy garden.
A generator and soy cow were installed, and training was provided by Henry Davies at the Best is Good Enough Academy in Ironsyde, Vaal region during March and May 2023, respectively.
During June 2023, researchers from UFS Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development visited BIGE for a soy cow demonstration and to brainstorm the way forward for commercialisation.
The soy yoghurt was well accepted by and has been included in the menu of the learners at BIGE.
Next steps
- Data capturing, statistical analyses and manuscript preparation (nutrition education programme);
- Soy garden implementation at BIGE in November 2023;
- Commercialisation of the soy yoghurt into the informal market at Ironsyde;
- Calculating the contribution of soy to the total BIGE menu; and
- Long-term follow-up acceptability of the soy yoghurt and soy inclusions into the BIGE menu.
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Creating job opportunities in soy planting and micro or macro soy agroprocessing business to warrant food sustainability
ESDF Team
Head Office
- Henry Davies
- Lizette Taljaard
Project Coordinators
- Gareth Alcock (Northern Natal)
- Medi Nkosi (Okhahlamba)
- Lwazi Mazwa (Eastern Cape)
- Tshepiso Madigwa (Limpopo)
- Sithembiso Mhlanga (Mpumalanga)
- Sihle Miya (Southern Natal)
Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development — National Landcare Conservation Agriculture (CA) Farming Project
- Eden Social Development Foundation is part of this program and promotes soy planting that incorporates CA Farming Planting Practices.
- ESDF attended meetings and is part of the District Development Legacy Project implementation of the Soybean Project, phase two, in Mpumalanga.
- ESDF attended and was part of the Conservation Agriculture Exposure Visit and mechanisation training in Newcastle on the Terryson Farm.
Soybean Cultivar Trials (Eastern Cape)
ESDF and Mr Nxolisi Mtyobile (a crop scientist from the Department of Agriculture), in conjunction with Annelie de Beer and Lizette Bronkhorst from the Agricultural Research Council, planted plot trials for a second year. The trial was successful, and the data captured on the National Soybean Trail List.
Schools
ESDF where involved with the planting of Soy at three schools as part of their school Curriculum.
The schools:
- Dimanda High School, Ezixholiseni, Eastern Cape.
- Intumbani Primary School, Okhahlamba, KZN.
- Best is Good Enough Academy, De Deur, Vaaldriehoek, Gauteng.
Soy in Food
- Ezixholiseni, Eastern Cape
- Capricorn, Polokwane, Limpopo
These two groups had Soy in Food demonstrations after receiving training during previous seasons. - ESDF installed a SoyCow at the Best is Good Enough academy, De Deur, Vaaldriehoek, Gauteng. The school staff received training on how to produce Soy in Food products. The Soy Yoghurt and Okara biscuits are being distributed to the school children as part of the school nutrition program.
Farmers Day
ESDF attended and was part of the Department of Agriculture's Farmers Day held in Southern KZN.
Okhahlamba Agriculture Show
ESDF and the Department of Agriculture organised an Agriculture Show for small scale and developing farmers. The show was hosted in Okhahlamba and was a resounding success. All role players are hoping to establish the show as an annual event.
Visits
The Oil and Protein Development Trust and the National Agriculture Council paid a visit to the ESDF headquarters.
ESDF presented a Soy in Food demonstration and made soy yoghurt, soy nuts and Okkara biscuits.
The group also visited various farmers involved in the ESDF project within the Okhahlamba area.
Planting
Thirteen Planting Training Workshops KwaZulu-Natal Okhahlamba 19 Female & 74 Male Attendees Newcastle 21 Female & 28 Male Attendees Dannhauser 12 Female & 24 Male Attendees Utrecht 13 Female & 22 Male Attendees Southern KwaZulu-Natal Ubuhlebezwe 9 Female & 10 Male Attendees Hammersdale 12 Female & 1 Male Attendees Eastern Cape Lusikisiki 24 Female & 16 Male Attendees Tsolo 27 Female & 25 Male Attendees Nyandeni 37 Female & 29 Male Attendees Port St Johns 6 Female & 5 Male Attendees Mpumalanga Nkomazi 40 Female & 40 Male Attendees Limpopo Mopani 6 Female & 16 Male Attendees Marble Hall 19 Female & 33 Male Attendees Total attendees trained 245 Females & 323 Males Where Application
HaRaw material Out
HaAreas Department of Agriculture Advisors Farmers Involved Yield
TonIncome
R/cM F KwaZulu-Natal Okhahlamba: Farmers 200 275 15 — 18 6 291 2 240 046.70 Okhahlamba: Department 300 352 116 9 136 95 262.25 1 881 927.39 Estcourt 40 56 16 — 9 7 63,047 505 086.61 Dannhauser 160 169 25 10 25 9 276.52 2 205 666.50 Newcastle 485 495 67 17 121 47 278.74 2 152 582.36 Utrecht 100 111 22 9 19 12 61.27 488 490.94 Harry Gwala (new) — 10 11 7 16 28 1.19 3 936.36 Ixopo (new) — 18.8 8 — 9 15 18.8 48 508.08 Paul Pietersburg (new) — 12 3 3 9 8 7,519 59 303.66 Total 1285 1554 284 56 363 227 1260.34 9 585 548.60 Eastern Cape Qumbu 150 7 7 7 33 37 0.66 3 719.58 Tsolo 150 9 8 8 25 30 0.876 4 812.70 KSD 150 17 2 1 70 65 1,029 0.00 Libode 150 16 10 5 18 32 1,254 5 403.10 Ngqeleni 150 15 5 5 24 52 1,684 10 859.06 Lusikisiki 150 8 2 1 26 47 2,278 14 715.88 Port St Johns 150 10 7 6 15 12 0,996 0.00 Total 82 40 27 189 255 8.77 39 510.32 Limpopo Capricorn 80 28 16 13 15 9 6,134 18 913.93 Sekhukhune 80 10 3 1 3 — 0 0.00 Vhembe 80 10 2 1 101 103 1,504 10 600.31 Waterberg 80 25 11 5 6 5 0,473 3 750.00 Mopani 80 10 4 3 8 16 0,176 891.12 Total 83 36 23 133 133 8,287 34 155.36 Mpumalanga Tonga 80 80 25 8 44 53 17,687 141 685.95 Total 80 80 25 8 44 53 17,687 141 685.95 Grand Total 1595 1799 385 114 729 668 1295.08 9 800 900.23 -
Advanced farmer input support — insurance, soil correction and mentorship
Overall number of Active Advanced farmers that received support with regard to Soil corrections, Insurance and Mentorship are 33 farmers in total. A total of 33 farmers are currently being supported in this period of reporting and they have received 183 visits where they were afforded one-on-one mentorship from our expert team. Over time these individuals have proven themselves on a number of levels including commitment, competency and potential. It is believed that with intensive one-on-one support they could grow their farming enterprises further.
Every time one of team members visit a farmer, they complete a report such as the one below which is uploaded onto the PGP Farmer Development website so the whole team can monitor activities and follow progress through the season. As presented in some of the mentorship reports below, the report is also accompanied by photos and details of the discussion points and follow-up activities to be done by the supported farmer.
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Farmer support for sunflower farmers in the Free State and North West
During 2022/2023 season the Oilseeds Protein Development Trust and Oilseeds and Advisory Committee approved input grant funding assistance for the support of 18 developing farmers producing sunflower in the Free State and Northwest Province.
Objective of the project
The objective of the project was to enable farmers to successfully produce sunflower seed commercially and furthermore diversify by including sunflower as part of their production for the season.
Reason it what deemed the project was to be a success
The farmers are participating under the FarmSol farmer development programme and farm in Free State and Northwest provinces. During 2022/2023 the farmers qualified for non-interest-bearing production loans from Siqalo Foods, including a guaranteed market for the sunflower, the sunflower seeds are delivered to CEOCO who receive the sunflower seed on behalf of Siqalo Foods.
The production loans provided by Siqalo were not sufficient to cover full sunflower production costs. The farmers therefore needed additional funding support of 2,3m to enable them to produce sunflower successfully.
Project duration
1 September 2022 to 30 August 2023.
Sectors in the oilseed industry that could benefit from the project
The Oilseed Industry and the Agricultural Industry in general, specifically the supported developing farmers.
Name of other contributors in the project
FarmSol, Siqalo Foods, CEOCO, Unigrain, Developing Farmers.
Project outcome
Total of 910 tonnes, with an average of 1.02 tonnes per farmer of sunflower seed is expected to be delivered by 31 August 2023. Through the OPOT intervention profit increased from 3,4m to 5,7m, this is a 60% increase in the profitability of the farmers.
Research Project 2
Groundnuts production
The Irrigation scheme in Taung is one of the oldest schemes in the country, it was established in 1939 and covers approximately 1054 hectares of land. The farmers are allocated 10 hectares each in a pivot covering 40 hectares. In the past due to limitations in finding and only relying on SAB for funding, the farmers could only produce Barley in winter and Maize during summer, the mono-cropping resulted in a decline in yields and high weed infestation/weed bank. During the 2022/2023 season, the Oilseeds Protein Development Trust and Oilseeds and Advisory Committee approved grant funding assistance for the support of 08 developing farmers to produce groundnuts in Taung, Northwest Province.
Objective of the project
The objective of the project was to enable farmers to successfully produce groundnuts, control weeds and build up their soils by including groundnuts in their crop production cycle.
Reason it what deemed the project was to be a success
The farmers are participating under the FarmSol farmer development program in Taung Northwest provinces. The Oilseed and Protein Development Trust and Oilseeds Advisory Committee made available R1,9 million for production support which enabled the farmers to plant a total of 80 hectares. The groundnuts further serve as a good rotation crop in summer and planted in rotation with the Maize (funded by SAB) and Soya (funded by SACTA).
Secured offtake market was secured from SA peanuts, this market is of great advantage for farmers as is based between Hartswater and Taung. SA Peanuts recommended and supplied groundnuts seeds for planting (cultivar AKWA 60_70).
Project duration
1 September 2022 to 30 August 2023.
Sectors in the oilseed industry that could benefit from the project
The Oilseed Industry and the Agricultural Industry in general, specifically supported developing farmers.
Name of other contributors in the project
FarmSol, SA Peanuts, Developing Farmers.
Project outcome
The farmer achieved an average yield of 2,57 tonnes per hectare, and a total income of R 1 052 167 has been achieved. Low quality of the groundnuts was the biggest drawback, this could be attributed to disruptions in irrigation caused by load shedding. To ensure the continuity of the production of groundnuts, 50% of the income is to be paid directly to farmers and 50% carried over to the next season as an additional contribution towards input costs.
Research project 3 — mentorship
To truly commercialise developing farmers, provision of mentorship plays a critical and central role. The farmers need support to ensure that they do the right thing at the right time and there is skills transfer.
Objectives of the project
To support the farmers in this program me with mentoring — advice on all aspects of production. The farmer mentor coordinates all aspects of production, including budgeting, ordering production inputs, liaising with input suppliers and contractors, and assisting farmers with the delivery of the grain at harvesting.
Project duration
1 September 2022 to 30 August 2023.
Sectors in the oil seeds industry that could or should benefit from the project
The Oilseed Industry, developing farmers supported and the agricultural industry in general.
Names of other contributors to the project
FarmSol, SACTA, AB InBev.
Mentorship support
FarmSol boasts a professional, dedicated, and competent team, passionate about farmer development and farmer wellbeing. Direct mentorship and farmer support is provided as below for the supported farmers:
- Northwest Taung (Groundnuts) > Kgadiko Serage & Lebo Masiu
- Free State & Northwest (Sunflower) > Karabo Puswe, Barry Nel, Gift Lebuso & Emmanuel Mafokane.