Proposed Training Support Programme for Emerging Farmers Abridged Khaedu project

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Proposed Training Support Programme for Emerging
FarmersAbridged Khaedu project
Free State Department of Agriculture 23-26 April
2007
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Preamble
This team has spent 3 days analysing the training
support provided by the Department of
Agriculture. All the analysis is focused on the
Glen Agricultural College and NOFTU. The insights
in this report are based on a limited evaluation
driven by the time and key resource
constraints. Team Grace Mentz Jacques Olivier
Dirk Hagen Kobus Kotze John van Berkel Teboho
Mokhele
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Objective

• The object of this deployment was to investigate
  best ways to support and train emerging farmers,
  with a particular focus on the Non Formal
  Training Unit (NOFTU)

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Many training support methods exist to assist
emerging farmers

• Develop and formalize mentoring relationships
  with experienced commercial farmers
• Support provided by Extension Officers (EO)
• Formal learning / learnerships
• Non-formal Action Learning

The focus of this deployment has been on the Non
Formal Training Unit
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Background
Glen
4 600 ha Farm managed by Research Unit
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Facilities at Glen good and offer many
opportunities
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HDI Land Ownership will have to increase by more
than 1000 by 2014 to reach National Targets
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This will dramatically increase training
requirements
Note Estimate based on the current average farm
size and beneficiary numbers
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This demand does not even consider our other
clients requiring services
8000 clients
Land Reform
Commonage/ Communal
Food Security
Students FET
Additional clients - in excess of 450 000
Farm Workers
Others
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Currently we are only managing to address 7 of
the training need
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And the gap between supported and non-supported
projects is set to widen
Increase gap
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The training budget of R6.5M for farmer training
support is completely inadequate
R6.5M
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with only 4 staff members to facilitate training
to 8000 Land Reform farmers
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Complicating factors

• 57 Of Our Training Budget and 17 lecturers used
  to train 107 Agriculture Students, despite the
  growing backlogs in farmer training needs.
• Research is not optimally involved in farmer
  training support
• Allocations Of Land Is Not Aligned With Available
  Support Capacity Of DoA Setting Up Farmers For
  Failure!!!
• Policies Not Complementing
• CASP Infrastructure Grants provides
  infrastructure without sufficient training support

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Recommendations

• Although our presentation is focused on training
  many supporting functions need to be looked at
  to ensure that we can create viable sustainable
  farms.
• A revamped training program will not
  fundamentally change the success of farms without
  looking at many factors including
• Increasing overall financial and human resources
  to support farmers
• Formalising mentoring relationships between
  existing farmers and emerging farmers
• Engaging the support of industry players and NGOs
• Allocation of budget to viable projects

In the majority of cases we are setting up our
emerging farmers for failure without drastic
action, this will have serious implications in
the future
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Refocus training to maximise impact

• Focus training through an Action Learning
  program made of two focus areas
• A basic skills program for all land beneficiaries
• An advanced level course for agricultural
  enterprises in the Free State with standardised
  course materials and approach
• Restructure of all training units to focus on
  farmer training support
• Once basic skills developed, consider
  accreditation of programmes (accreditation
  process should not delay roll-out)
• based on NQF
• SAQA unit standards

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Our training program will include a progression
from Basic to Advanced skills
Implements skills on farm
Has Literary/ Numeracy skills?
Advanced
Screening
A1 6 General Basic Skills
Yes
Start
No
ABET
Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
Selection Criteria Needs Identification
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Our basic skills (internal) program will include
the following modules

• Environment Analysis - Evaluation - Enterprise
  Selection Decision Making - Planning
• Basic Agricultural Enterprise Financial
  Management i.e. Enterprise Budget Loans Record
  Keeping Inventory
• Markets Marketing i.e. Strategies, Theory of
  market powers
• Factors of Production i.e. Animal Plant Biology
  - Production Resources
• Basic Mechanics Welding - Fencing - Machinery
  Maintenance - etc
• Labour Management i.e. Conflict Management - Life
  Skills - Thinking Skills SARS - Legislation
• Linked to appropriate Unit Standards
• Linked to relevant NQF standards
• Likely spanning 1 month

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Our advanced skills program (likely outsourced)
will include
Advanced Clusters
Animals
Plants
Value Adding
General Management
Investment
Sourcing
LS SS Poultry
CC DC Irrigation
Diversification
Production
Processing
Production
Global Trends
Control
Fin Business Management
Fin Business Management
Marketing
Hygiene
Resource Mngt
Resource Mngt
HR
Packaging
Value Adding
Value Adding
Banking
Brands
Farm Mechanization
Farm Mechanization
IT
Logistics
ME
ME
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Basics skills project plan

• 1. Course Design
• (Based on NQF 1 - 4)
• - Materials
• - Structure
• 2. Pilot
• - Review Revise Programme
• Promote Market Centre
• 3. Scheduling
• - Dates
• - Location
• - Resources
• - Logistics
• 4. Promotion Registration
• 5. Trainee Tracking Skills Development
• 6. Link Farmer To Mentor

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Advanced skills project plan

• 1. Needs Analysis (EO and coordinate with ME
  section)
• 2. Capture Analysis (NOFTU) - sort in into NQF
  Bands
• 3. Selecting Appropriate Unit Standards
• 4. Course Design - by greatest need
• 5. Develop Standardized Material for DoA
• 6. Schedule Training Courses
• 7. Appoint Service Providers monitor them
• 8. Promote register to farmers
• 9. Trainee tracking Skills Development
• 10. ME of Service Providers
• 11. Evaluate Process

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In order to successfully execute the project plan
our organisation structure will need to be
aligned to support the following functions

• A core team of trainers
• A team focusing on course development,
  standardised materials and accreditation
• A team to manage and evaluate tender processes
  and service provider performance
• A team to administer course scheduling,
  logistics, booking of candidates and finances
• A team to maintain a trainee database linked to
  farmer skills development plans

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Optimum use of available capacity (Scenario 1)

• 17 Lecturer (1 Program per year) 17
• 4 NOFTU (8 Programs per year) 32
• 9 Researchers (1 Program per year) 9
• 58
• 58 Programs x 20 Farmers 1 160 Farmers

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Optimum use of capacity if all NOFTU posts filled
(Scenario 1)

• 17 Lecturers (1 Program) 17
• 18 NOFTU (8 Programs) 144
• 9 Researchers (1 Program) 9
• 170
• 170 Programs x 20 Farmers 3 400 Farmers

Outsourced
76 Ext. Officers
Animal Production 5 Agronomic Production
4 Agro-Processing 4 Farm Management
5

18 Posts
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However in both scenarios, we still cannot meet
the training demand with the given human and
financial resources and the gap will increase
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In conclusion,

• The new plan will dramatically improve our
  support to Land Reform farmers
• The plan will also provide individual portable
  qualifications for individuals
• With additional resources the plan is scalable
  and can be expanded to provide comprehensive
  support to farmers
• However,
• Without additional resources the Department will
  not be able to adequately support the Land Reform
  farmers and other clients
• As this is a National priority we suggest a
  further investigation into how to improve
  training support and strongly motivate for
  additional funding
• Without drastic interventions we cannot succeed
  and make farms more viable