An analysis of the conversion to organic farming in South Africa with special focus on the Western Cape

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Organic agriculture is a growing sector world wide due to the ecological and SOCIOeconomiccrisis in conventional agriculture. The International Federation of OrganicAgriculture Movements (!FOAM) estimated a growth rate of between 20 and 30 percentannually across the world. This trend is also detectable in South Africa although it is still arelatively new movement. During the last two years the number of farmers who hadconverted to organic farming has increased sixfold and although they still account only fora minute small percentage of the total agricultural production, the increasing importance ofthis sector can now be observed. This was the reason for this study, which dealtspecifically with the conversion process to organic farming. Based on survey results,knowledge was gathered about organic farmers in South Africa concerning sociodemographicaspects, farming operations, motivations and problems of the conversionprocess. In the second part of the study, the focus was placed on three farming systems inthe Western Cape, including pome fruit, vegetables and table grapes. Six farms wereevaluated on the basis of technical, social and economic aspects of the conversion period.Several differences were observed between organic and conventional farmers, including ahigher level of education and a younger age of organic farmers. Mainly horticulturalholdings were converted, with a potential for exporting. Problems farmers had to faceduring the conversion period included the lack of knowledge and information, higher weedinfestation and high certification and inspection costs. On most of the farms it was still tooearly to assess the financial impacts of the conversion, but where it was possible, thefeedback was mainly positive. The changes that took place during the conversion periodincluded technical changes such as the approach to pest and disease control, fertilizationand seed inputs. Essential investments at the beginning of the conversion period were afinancial burden. Variable costs rose mainly as a result of an increase in labour andmachinery input. The conversion period had no obvious impact on the fixed costs and thusthe net farm income.With respect to these findings it was recommended to support the conversion to organicfarming not only financially with different instruments such as subsidies for certificationcosts but also to develop an improved infrastructure for marketing, networking andinformation exchange. Several areas for research were identified to increase the knowledgeof organic farming in the South African context.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University