Farmers keep faith in potatoes as Covid-19 lockdown continues

Small-scale farmers in Motsane in the Limpopo’s Sekhukhune have been unable to sell their produce. (Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/ Mukurukuru Media)

By Lucas Ledwaba for Mukurukuru Media

5 May 2020

Informal small-scale farmers in far-off rural areas are anxious as trade slows down due to the coronavirus lockdown.

“We have always been farmers,” Thomas Tebadi Malejane stresses as he walks through the bright green field where potatoes are thriving underneath the fertile black soil.

Malejane swears there has never been a time when the people of his village were not working the land to feed themselves and help others far away make a living from their produce.

Malejane's forehead is contorted into a worried frown. In one hand he holds a garden fork and with the other free hand, he constantly chases away a little swarm of bright yellow and black insects. It's a destructive pest, he says.

Small-scale farmlands in Motsane, Limpopo. (Photo: Lucas Ledwaba / Mukurukuru Media)

But it's not the insect that's the source of his worry on this warm early winter's Sunday afternoon.

Since the coronavirus lockdown began more than a month ago, life in Motsane has been tough. Lockdown regulations have left the community of farmers a frustrated lot, with lots of produce, but no clients to sell to.

The village, hidden deep in the Drakensberg mountain range in the district of Sekhukhune in Limpopo is known as the home of small-scale subsistence and commercial farmers. The village located along the banks of the Olifants River enjoys an abundance of fresh spring water tumbling down from natural springs up in the lush mountains. Motsane, which during the last census in 2011 had just 1,688 residents, is one of sparsely populated villages located along the Olifants in this spectacular gorge.

Phineas Mohlala packs potatoes. They have also not applied for government's relief measures for small-scale farmers. (Photo: Lucas Ledwaba / Mukurukuru Media)

Malejane says for as long as he can recall people in the village have always been renowned farmers, working the land along the fertile banks of the Olifants, known to the locals as Lepelle – the river that meanders to worlds afar.

They farm sugar cane, potatoes, maize, peas, spinach, tomatoes, watermelon and other crops. The mountains that tower over and surround the village are abundant with natural vegetables, herbs and fruit which also help sustain the locals.

Small-scale farmers in Motsane in the Limpopo’s Sekhukhune have been unable to sell their produce. (Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/ Mukurukuru Media)

Older residents recall that until just over two decades ago they hardly had any use for money and relied mostly on bartering their produce with outsiders. And until just a few years ago they had to climb up the mountains to get cellphone reception which is now better but still erratic.

The gravel road to the village meanders precariously between the Olifants and the Drakensberg, passing through spectacular sights and daunting gorges. This is the road which in normal times is tread regularly by traders who buy fresh produce at a bargain in Motsane.

“We have always survived on this business. We have always fed ourselves. But during this lockdown period it has been very difficult,” says Malejane.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the United Nations, warns that the spread of illness like Covid-19 can devastate poor rural communities and small-scale food producers who already face challenges such as weak resilience, poor nutrition and limited access to resources and services.

According to IFAD, about 63% of the world’s poorest people work in agriculture and the overwhelming majority on small farms. It also says most of the poorest, hungriest and most marginalised people live in rural areas. The agency warned that during May, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak it was expecting disruptions in the food supply chains due to among others restrictions of movement.

“Shortage of fertilisers, veterinary medicines and other input could affect agricultural production. More broadly, the crisis is expected to have profound effects on the global economy, which will certainly affect small-scale rural producers on a much broader scale.”

According to Google Maps, Motsane is located 144km from the bustling, overcrowded platinum mining town of Burgersfort. A round trip by taxi costs R100 but could take all day as the taxi has to meander carefully along mountain passes and then on to the busy R37. But due to the lockdown regulations that require travellers to produce permits, the men and women who buy produce from Motsane in bakkies have stopped coming to the village. The farmers say some have taken a chance and made the trip once or twice under cover of darkness. But overall, it's been quiet. Now they are worried they may have to eat most of their produce. Some like Jane Malejane (not related to Thomas Malejane) have begun harvesting and sharing with neighbours and keeping some for themselves. But having planted in late February and early March they are worried if the lockdown continues for much longer they may have to count their losses.

“Since this lockdown, we can't find customers. They can't come to us and we can't go to them. Aaaaowaaa...we would be in trouble if this lockdown continues. People will starve,” says Thomas Malejane. In April Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza announced that the department had set aside R1.2-billion for assistance to aid financially distressed small-scale farmers.

Didiza said of the R1.2-billion, R400-million has been allocated for farmers within the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) programme and the remainder will be channelled towards all other farmers within certain commodity sectors. Although the Malejanes meet most of the requirements required to qualify for the grant they did not apply for lack of information and assistance. Instead, they are hoping to benefit from the social grant relief measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

To qualify applicants needed to be South African citizens who have been actively farming for a minimum of 12 months and currently in the production season or cycle; be registered on a farmer register, commodity database or provincial database. Communal farmers and smallholder farmers with annual turnover between R50,000 and R1 million such as Malejane also qualified. But the application process was only open between 8 and 22 April.

“We use the money we make here to pay for school fees and clothes for our children. It's not enough but it helps us because we cannot only rely on grants,” says Reinar Mohlala, also a farmer.

In Motsane the lockdown has not been enforced as it has been in other areas where soldiers and police have been working the streets dealing with those who failed to comply with regulations. The nearest police station is about 50km away in Moroke and the nearest clinic in Ga-Phala 12km away.

On a Sunday afternoon, the farmers have taken to their fields along the Olifants, working with their children and extended family to extract potatoes from the soil. They pack them into sacks and crates and take them home hoping one of their regular customers will call to place an order. Although the Covid-19 message has reached these parts and community health workers have already conducted screening among the people here, life goes on pretty much as usual. No one wears a face mask or carries a sanitiser.

“We have not seen any police here. We always hear rumours they are coming but they have not come. Whenever we hear something like that we go back home and wait. But what do they expect us to do? Sit at home?” Johannes Phoku flashes a sad smile as he leans against a spade on his field along the Olifants.

He has planted sweet potatoes, peanuts, peas and has already harvested maize. But he's worried about what he is going to do with the rest of the produce, which is nearing harvesting. Fearing being arrested for violating the lockdown regulations, Phoku missed a doctor's appointment in Burgersfort the previous week.

“How will I pay R1,000 bail? We have no food. It is tough here. We might have to eat these very potatoes very soon,” he says.

Mohlala is worried that because Motsane is far away from stores even if they have money it would be difficult to travel to town for shopping.

“Here we survive on social grants and the money we make in this garden. We are working here but we are afraid because if the police find us in this field they will arrest us,” she says.

In the last week of April President Ramaphosa announced that he was relaxing some travel restrictions as the country was moving into Level 4 lockdown. But this is cold comfort for the farmers. Phoku is forever listening to news on the radio hoping for some change. He is more worried about how he is going to feed his family in the coming months if the lockdown continues for long.

“Are we not going to die of hunger in that way, just sitting at home?” he sighs. MC

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