SouthAfrica:ASmallholder's Innovative Approach to Producing and Exporting Fruit E xporting deciduous fruit from the mission station established by the Western Cape Province of South Africa to Lutheran Church in the early 1800s. markets in Europe, North America and Asia The nearly perfect climatic conditions, NotesKI contributes significantly to the province's with cold winters and an altitude of Gross Domestic Product. The main export 800 m, have made this area well known producers are large-scale farmers. Even for its export-quality apples and with the change in discriminatory legisla- peaches. During the 1970s, numerous tion and practices in South Africa after smallholder farmers exported their de- 1994, few smallholder farmers have pen- ciduous fruit in collaboration with etrated this market. This is due to: neighbouring large-scale commercial · the historical political inequalities faced farmers. The Lutheran Church helped by the predominantly coloured and black the hamlet buy more land so that local smallholder farmers, in particular the farmers could expand their operations lack of access to agricultural resources and produce even more for export. and inputs, because the law used to ex- However, the oil crisis in the late clude them from mainstream commercial 1970s, the closure of the railway sta- http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm farming; tion, politically motivated economic · the subsequent inability of smallholders sanctions and the decline in value of to produce the volumes and, at times, the South African Rand relative to ma- the quality required for export; jor foreign currencies led to the almost · the significant influence of economies of complete demise of deciduous fruit scale, making it almost impossible for production by smallholders in Haarlem. smallholders to achieve a significant By 1989, most had stopped growing profit. apples for export. In the early 1990s, The few smallholders who manage to ex- many uprooted the fruit trees and No. 78 port their fruit do so through collective or March 2005 individual arrangements with large-scale commercial operations. IK Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives One such farmer is Aubrey Billet from in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally Haarlem. He started exporting apples in on such initiatives outside the Region. the 1970s. Over the decades, he developed It is published by the Africa Region's Knowledge and Learning Center as his own knowledge and innovations in both part of an evolving IK partnership fruit production and socio-economic ar- between the World Bank, communi- rangements and could thus continue to ex- ties, NGOs, development institutions and multilateral organizations. The port most of his annual apple crop. views expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be World Bank Langkloof Valley and developed around the attributed to the World Bank Group or its partners in this initiative. A webpage on IK is available at // Change in agriculture in Haarlem www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ default.htm The hamlet of Haarlem lies in the narrow 2 switched to arable cash crops. Agricultural production de- Smith, but could afford to replace only a few trees immedi- clined, but agriculture and associated employment remained ately. He therefore decided to experiment with grafting important economic activities. Many residents were em- Granny Smith shoots (scions) on to the existing Starking ployed on surrounding large-scale farms and a few were em- trees. ployed on the smallholdings within Haarlem. Most He had learned about grafting while discussing apple pro- smallholders now produce livestock and vegetables for duction with his large-scale farmer friend. He taught himself household consumption, the local fresh-produce markets and and soon became adept in using this technique. Rather than street vendors. A few still grow deciduous fruit for home and spend money to buy scions from a nursery, he asked his the local market. The remaining fruit trees are scattered and friend if he could select potential scions from the shoots old. Aubrey Billet, however, still exports apples. pruned in July from young trees on the large-scale farm. He stored the scions in the vegetable crisper of his refrigerator (where the temperature never went below 50 C) until Sep- Early innovations tember/October and then grafted them onto his Starking Like other Haarlem smallholders during the 1960s and trees. From his discussions with his friend, he knew that nurs- 1970s, Aubrey used his small piece of land to grow various eries stored their scions in a similar way before grafting, but crops for home consumption and local sales. The use a special storage medium too costly for Aubrey. smallholders' farming practices were severely constrained After a few trials, Aubrey discovered that he needed to use because they could not buy inputs in small quantities from young scions, not older than one year, and to locate a place the local cooperative, which was geared to large-scale pro- on the tree that would take new growth, i.e. where a new duction and supplied inputs only in large quantities. During branch or shoot was emerging. He also had to make sure that the 1970s, Aubrey and other smallholders arranged with a the cut made on the tree was an almost perfect match to the large-scale farmer that they would produce high-quality cut on the scion, so that the newly grafted scion would take apples, which he would buy and then sell on national and for- easily. As Aubrey could not afford a grafting knife, he used a eign markets. These farmers started planting an increasing sharpened kitchen knife that produced clean razor-edged number of apple trees. Those who worked as labourers on cuts that ensured a good fit. He noted that, when he changed large-scale farms employed local residents to maintain the apple varieties by grafting onto existing trees, he could har- small orchards. The smallholders bought the small quantities vest suitable fruits two to three seasons after grafting. This of inputs they needed directly from the large-scale farmer. was more cost effective for him than replacing the trees, Thus, they could enter the national and export markets for which had to be bought from a nursery and from which he apples. could harvest only four to five seasons after planting. He did, Aubrey has a particularly keen interest in apple produc- however, buy a few Granny Smith trees to replace some tion, as does the large-scale farmer. Because of their mutual older Starking trees interest, these two men who differ greatly in socio-cultural background and economic status developed a strong friend- Scaling out ship that continues today and extends to friendship between Aubrey and the farmer's son, who now manages the farm. A few years after grafting Granny Smith onto the Starking To sell to export markets, farmers must produce apple va- trees, the market preference changed yet again. A new vari- rieties that meet the high demands and preferences of con- ety, Royal Gala, became popular amongst local and foreign sumers. Because of changes in consumer preferences, farm- consumers. Aubrey obtained some Royal Gala scions from his ers have to invest in new apple varieties every 10­12 years. friend and grafted these on to Starking and some Granny Resource-poor farmers with little land and facing high input Smith trees. He also grafted a few onto some Starking trees costs cannot afford to do this. that were producing Granny Smith apples, resulting in one Aubrey planted most of his existing apple trees, of the tree producing both varieties on the same rootstock. He Starking variety, in the mid-1980s. When market demand for found that he could harvest Royal Gala apples within two sea- Starking apples decreased, he wanted to switch to Granny sons after grafting. However, he encountered some problems 3 with the trees on which he had grafted both Granny Smith ·When grafting a new variety on to an old tree, only the and Royal Gala. Each variety reacts differently to pests and newly grafted variety should bear fruit. The fruit-bearing diseases and therefore needs a different spraying schedule. If shoots/buds of the original variety must be removed. Oth- early and late cultivars are grown on the same tree, timely erwise, the same problems are encountered as when more spraying for one variety affects the quality and size of the than one variety is grafted on to a single tree; other. This had serious financial implications. Thus, although ·The condition of the tree is important. Old or damaged he could successfully graft two varieties on one tree, his trees should be replaced, as they produce lower-quality knowledge of pest and disease control led him to decide to fruit when a new variety is grafted on them. use only one variety per tree. He therefore grafted Royal The relationship that developed between two farmers who Gala only on to the remaining Starking trees. come from quite different backgrounds and have different resources but share a common interest in apple production has played a pivotal role in Aubrey's access to materials and When to graft and when to replace trees ideas which he could integrate into his local knowledge and Despite his success with grafting, Aubrey sees this as a short- thus develop his innovations. It also gave him access to a term solution. He has noticed that a newly planted root- relatively closed market. Such relationships and exchange of stock, with a pre-grafted scion, produces a better yield and knowledge between farmers are important if they are to sur- fruit quality over a longer period in comparison to one of his vive in a time when research and extension services are be- "innovative trees". He suggests that these trees be replaced ing increasingly downsized. with new trees when the rootstocks are about 20 years old. According to his experience, the quality and quantity of the Sharing innovations fruit start to deteriorate in later years. Most of the trees on to which he grafted a new variety were ten years old at the Only one other smallholder in Haarlem still grows apples for time. The grafting effectively gives each tree another ten commercial purposes. Because he produces for the local mar- years of productive life with a different variety currently in ket, his produce need not be of such high quality as is re- high demand from consumers. By saving his income, he quired for export. A few Haarlem farmers produce peaches could buy replacement trees when the production of the "in- and plums, but most grow vegetables such as potatoes and novative trees" started declining. He has not tried to graft onions. Therefore, there is currently little local interest in onto the new trees, as these are purchased with the market- Aubrey's ideas. However, some smallholders producing stone required variety pre-grafted on to them. fruits might be able to try his grafting innovation to see if it can be applied successfully to their fruit types. Times have also changed in Haarlem, and social reform Some lessons in South Africa has made it possible for some smallholders to During the twelve years that Aubrey Billet has been experi- obtain loans and some government support. This means that menting and grafting in this fashion, he identified a number they are in a better position than Aubrey was to purchase of important considerations: trees when needed. While less fortunate individual house- ·Grafting saves some money, as new trees do not have to be holds might be interested in Aubrey's grafting techniques, purchased immediately when market demand changes. He social reform has not been extended to give them access to can buy these when he has enough money. Since it is hard land on which to plant fruit trees. for a smallholder to get a loan, he needs sufficient cash to By expanding his knowledge through his own experimen- pay for the inputs required to produce for national and ex- tation, and without the direct support of agricultural exten- port markets; sion and research services, Aubrey continued producing ·Use of locally available resources (in this case, scions from a apples for the market while most of his fellow smallholders fellow farmer) slightly reduces reliance on external re- sought other alternatives to maintain their livelihoods. His sources. Aubrey could select young scions of quality mate- innovation allowed him to secure his family's livelihood and rial, as his friend uses only nursery-approved varieties; educate his children. Unfortunately, he will soon have to stop 4 growing apples because of his health and age, and none of his children are interested in continuing. It is important that the innovations developed by a smallholder farmer to fit his cir- cumstances are recorded so that farmers elsewhere facing similar circumstances can have access to such knowledge. These farmers may innovate further and improve what Aubrey developed. His innovations clearly demonstrate that smallholder farmers, like their scientific counterparts on re- search stations, are experimenters and innovators in their own right. This article was written by Tim Hart, Senior Research Manager at the Human Sciences Research Council, PB X41, Pretoria 0001, South Africa (thart@hsrc.ac.za); Aubrey Billet, a small-scale apple producer in Haarlem; and Roberta Burgess, Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Centre Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, Entomology Division, PB X5026, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa (burgessr@arc.agric.za).