We hear news of waste like tomatoes being thrown away due to lack of transport and over ripening. What a waste.
The late Prof Dr Tito Cantado who used to be a FAO worker said that entrepreneurship is the answer to the farmer woes, and not the perpetuity of subsistence agricultural process: land tilling, planting, harvesting and selling to traders. It should go beyond so that the farmers are not idle after planting. Farmers cant just plant one crop; they must produce other things he she need like other foodstuff, handicraft for sale their own energy needs etc
Thus the answer to some of the problems of farmers:
1 High cost of inputs - join coops, many coops are integrated and have their own feed mills and abattoirs Do DA neglect this or do not know this and oftern generally accept these alibis as reason for high prices
2. Marketing - ever heard of farmers market where farmers group sell directly to customer, bypassing profit raking traders
3 Food processing - excess produce can be processed into:
1. Cacao - choco by products
2. Tomatoes - tomato paste, ketchup
3. Pork beef chicken - dried meat products, processed meat - canned or botted
Let us encourage farmers, educate them on entrepreneuruship and do not make them dependent on DA which most of the time is perceived to be not doing much for farmers, or at times even anti farmers
