Tsb Extension Services

Advisory and support services offered by Tsb , form part of the Cane Supply division. This is part of our drive to make our growers more sustainable over the long term.

Extension services is divided into three main grower groups that is closely interlinked but provide specific services to the three groups of growers.

Small Scale Growers (SSG) Farmer Support

This is headed by Andre vd Merwe and assisted by Florence Mavimbela. They supply the extension and support services to the project growers in our area.

This includes but is not limited to engineering support, agronomic advice and assistance with the sourcing of seedcane and other resources.

The small-scale growers (SSGs) are a very important component of Tsb Sugar's overall cane supply to the mills. 1300 growers on 32 projects produce sugarcane on 10 000 ha of tribal land with an annual production of approximately 700 000 tons.

The annual gross turnover provides a significant financial boost to the Nkomazi area. It also provides very important job opportunities and the associated development of a range of business and farming skills.

It is certainly one of the few very successful black farmer developments in Southern Africa.

Tsb Sugar currently has a comprehensive SSG support service providing full time agronomic assistance via qualified extension officers to all growers. It also has a dedicated engineering department to facilitate the maintenance and repairs of irrigation pumps and infrastructure.

A support service is provided to all growers (small and medium scale emerging farmers as well as commercial farmers). The mill and the cane producer are mutually reliant on each other and the grower base is considered a critical aspect.

The purpose of the grower support services is to contribute to the maintenance of an independent and financially sustainable grower base. It is very important that our support services always recognize that the farmers are independent and the decision as well as responsibility lies with the farmer.

These support services entail several facets, including an extension service covering all agronomic aspects as well as field management advice and facilitation to all growers, both emerging and commercial.

The philosophy of the extension is to go beyond the traditional advice on technical aspects only by facilitating the entire production process to the final output.
 This is structured to suit the requirements of both the specific farmer grouping and that of the individual farmer.

For the emerging small and medium scale growers, a pump and irrigation infrastructure maintenance service is provided. This is on a voluntary basis and the growers carry the cost of material and consumables required in the preventive as well as breakdown maintenance. Knowledge and expertise is offered in the form of qualified maintenance and engineering personnel.

Evaluation of irrigation system designs as well as monitoring of critical points in the installation process is made available to both the emerging farmers as well as the financiers of these systems. This specific support service is aimed at protecting the farmer and the financier against exploitation that can have a very marked effect on the ability of the growers' projects to remain financially viable as well as on their ability to meet their repayments. The view is that financiers form an integral part of the cane producing process and therefore the provision of technical expertise plays a role in mitigating some of the risk involved, which is beneficial to both the financier and the grower.

Our own personnel are involved in servicing the training needs of the emerging farmers with tailor-made training courses. The farmers are further facilitated to be trained by other institutions, private and government, thus ensuring a wider range of training to meet various needs.

A book-keeping service is offered to the emerging farmers who have advanced to become medium-scale farmers. The growers are also mentored in financial management and in the making of important financial decisions.

Medium Scale Growers

This is headed by Octavius Madonko and he is responsible for the similar but specific demands of this group of growers.

Below are services and advice provided by Cane Supply Department to medium-scale farmers:

• Agronomy and general practices
• Irrigation preventative maintenance of drip and floppy irrigation systems
• Irrigation scheduling
• Irrigation infrastructure maintenance
• Pest and Diseases
• Financial Management and mentoring services

In a bid to further develop the small-scale growers, in 2005, Tsb Sugar selected seven successful growers from the current small-scale growers, including one company employee, and gave them the opportunity to become medium-scale growers. Of these growers two are women and five are men. A selection committee selected them from more than a thousand applications. They all had a good track record in sugar cane production.

The successful candidates were:
Eric Sibiya, Lina Mabaso, Richard Nobela, Isaac Nkosi, Nellie Ngomane, Patsim Mbazima and Henry Magagula.
These growers started farming on 1 April 2005. The farm manager responsible for the development made time available in the two weeks prior to this for growers to work with him. This was done in order for them to become acquainted with the workings of the very complex irrigation systems.
The grower is fully and solely responsible for his own farming operations. Tsb Sugar and other role-players only offer extension services, advice, mentoring and guidance, but the ultimate decision-maker is the farmer.

Large Scale Cane Growers (Commercial Farmers)

Headed by Jannes vd Merwe and address the demands from this group of growers. This service is similar to both the other groups.

We are working closely together with SASRI  [South African Sugarcane Research Institute] and their existing extension system and form part of their information system.

The extension service is about providing information and assistance to enable the growers to make the best decisions on their farms. There are general programs of work but all requests are treated as a priority. 

For any further information and/or requests please feel free to contact the Cane Supply office.