Limpopo Leader - Spring 2005 - University of Limpopo

SMALL VERSUS BIG – AN IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL DEBATE
scheme where a diversification of
livelihoods (including dairy goats
and eco-tourism) is being
developed. The third site is the
Makgofe Trust Farm on which
emerging small-scale farmers are
working on redistributed land with
broiler chickens and vegetables.
The research is carried out
by CRCE interns who are postgraduate
students working
towards their higher degrees.
There are eight such interns for 2005.
Much of the documentation
comes from the interns. The CRCE
has a publishing programme that
makes known the results of the
research. The CRCE also
produces regular video material
on aspects of its work. These
videos are used not only as an
extension tool but are also aired
at national and international
forums. The CRCE is now widely
recognised as an authority in
this field, and the training of
agricultural extension officers
as executive producers of TV
programmes regularly takes place.
Networking is of fundamental
importance to the work of the
CRCE. Relationships have been
built up with many national and
provincial bodies, and the
international links reach deep
into Africa. In October last year,
a memorandum of understanding
was signed between the
universities of Limpopo and
Tanzania that focuses particularly
on animal science and
agricultural economics and
promotes joint activities and
joint research between the two
institutions.
Other African linkages include:
• One with Pelum (Participatory
Ecological Land-Use
Management), a civil society
network in East, Central and
Southern Africa promoting
sustainable communities.
• Another one with Prolinnova,
(Promoting Local Innovation)
a network of professionals
from research, academic and
development circles aimed
at supporting genuine local
innovations that improve rural
livelihoods.
• And another with the East and
Southern African Farmers’
Forum, an organisation
committed to enabling small
farmers in the region ‘to speak
as a united voice so that
the issues, concerns and
recommendations of farmers
becomes an integral part of
policies and practices at
national, regional and
international levels’.
One of the CRCE interns is
currently doing postgraduate
research on the process of
networking among small-scale
farmers. What functions do the
networking processes fulfil? How
effective are they in breaking
through the restrictions of localised
groups? Does horizontal communication
at the local or district level
help with the central issues of
efficiency and sustainability?
‘Essentially,’ says Lassalle, ‘we
are concerned with promoting
innovation in small-scale agriculture
because it is this branch of farming
– much more than huge endeav-
ours with inputs measured in millions
of rands – that describes the
sustainable future of the developing
world. There are plenty of
examples of large endeavours
ruining the sustainability of the
land and breaking the viability of
a region’s small farmers.
Agriculture should be about the
people on the land, and not only
about outputs measured in tons.’
So the future is going to be
dominated by small-scale farming
concepts like organic, humanbased,
ecologically sustainable,
and so on. And these are the
concepts that the CRCE is seeking
to bring into the mainstream
academic debates at the
University of Limpopo as it
increasingly focuses attention on
the communities it serves – and
indeed on the basic rural realities
of the entire SADC region.
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