Agrinews February 2013 - Ministry of Agriculture

The burdenArticle & Photos: Joseph RamodisaOne of the biggestchallenges to smallfarms comes from bigfarms. Due to economies of scale,a 5,000 bird’s capacity poultryfarm is able to charge less perdozen of eggs for the thousandsof eggs it produces every year,than the small farm can for itshundreds of the same product.Despite the high cost of layers,many health, phyto-sanitary andinfrastructure regulations requireinvestments that only largefarms can afford, thereby addinganother financial challenge tothe small farmer. An exampleof this was the requirement ofa certain size of bulk tanks indairies, a regulation that putmany small dairy farms out ofbusiness because they could notafford the equipment.Ofentse Gabalathane ofMopipi Village in Boteti, an eggproducer funded through CEDA’sYoung Famers Fund is an exampleof those feeling the pinch ofcompeting with big farmers forthe market. The situation thatforced him to go out of businessof egg production.The fact that Gabalathane stillhas a loan to service with CEDA,he has now opted to go for broilerproduction so he can be able topay the loan.Though he describe layers aseasy to manage and maintainas compared to broilers,Gabalathane pointed out thathe is running away from stiffcompetition that small farmersare facing from big ones.He said small farmers as wellas big ones are taking their dayto day requisites from the sameservice providers, at the sameprice, but when it comes toan economic of scale they areoutclassed by big farms.He cited feeds which he saidthey only purchased in Palapyewith extra costs for transport totransport them to their farmsand consequently the cost ofproduction becomes high. As aresult, he said they are forced toprice their end product higherthan the bigFebruary 2013