St. Camillus Farm - Meeting Lots of Challenges
In spite of the
fabulous early days of huge cabbages & initial sales, we quickly found that
finding & sustaining a market were extremely challenging. One large market,
the Catholic schools in the neighborhoods near St. Camillus, was totally unavailable
due to the 3 month summer holiday. Though Thabang had assured us vendors would
come from the north & south districts (Maseru to Quithing) & throughout
Mohale's Hoek, we did not experience the big sales that we had anticipated.
Rethabile & I created flyers & walked from market to market &
street vendor to street vendor promoting the farm. We showed photos of the
large "farm fresh" cabbages & green peppers & discussed
price. We promoted the concept of buying locally, Lesotho produce, rather than
imports from South Africa. But, vendors wanted St. Camillus to bring the
veggies to them in town. Our competitors
were doing just that - setting up stations where the town vendors could just
walk over & pick up their stock from trucks that would come a couple times
a week. Street vendors & many
markets rely on walking to the trucks. With no refrigeration on the street
& most markets, it is extremely difficult to keep fresh veggies fresh for
more than a couple days - so a steady supply of smaller quantities is preferred
over large loads. Finding the right sale price was a challenge too. Our initial
sale price was based on what we thought the standard price was but that was
always a moving target. We were having big trouble gaining a loyal client
base.
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| Abundant, beautiful green peppers |
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| Ausi Rethabile & Mme Maletuka discussing sales |
The irrigation,
though a miracle of readily available water, was a challenging new concept for
Ntate Komitse, the farm hand responsible for managing the sprinklers. Watering
after a rain, watering on windy days, watering during the heat of the day;
numerous conceptual issues. Managing the pests was another; the outer cabbage
leaves were becoming riddled with pest holes.
Huge volunteer squash & sunflower plants as well as weeds were
invading the green pepper field. The volunteer plants were thought to be
welcome additions to the harvest as the farm workers were new to commercial
farming & did not appreciate the negative impact of this overgrowth. Ntate
Thabang, our Conservation Agriculture consultant, was dismayed & counselled
Sr. Juliana & the farm workers but they were slow or resistant to adopting
new behaviors. The huge cabbages early
in the season were now gone & vendors would tell us the remaining crop was
unsuitable for their stalls & shops.
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| The new 60 meter borehole ensures the whole farm can be irrigated |
Bridging the
transportation gap became a huge issue as well. After the accident, the truck
had mechanical issues. Though Sr. Juliana began to take veggies to the villages
to sell, it was not long before the truck needed serious repairs & was out
for repairs. We soon found out the truck needed an engine overhaul & would
be left at the Toyota service department for weeks. Sr. Juliana & Mme
Maletuka would push a wheelbarrow full of green peppers, or carry a basin full on her head, the 2 km into town -
they were becoming exhausted.
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| Mme Maletuka carries the peppers 1.5 miles into town to sell - we need transportation! |
Sales plummeted.
Rethabile & I crunched the numbers & found that we had only sold 12% of
the projected cabbage harvest as the season was nearing its conclusion.
Time to face the challenges & learn some
critical lessons about commercial farming
- But can we considering these
cultural, environmental, & socio-economic norms
- Removing barriers to
innovation, re-tooling, efficiencies, success through failure
- Unlearning behaviors that
were essential for subsistence gardening & reliance on rain to embrace
conservation agriculture with its managed crop rotation
- Adopting supply & demand
& for-profit marketing & sales methodologies in order to shift
away from practices associated with a life of poverty
- Releasing the fear of
spending money to make practical decisions about hiring labor, purchasing
tools, getting produce to market
- Confronting & then
managing staff performance issues or replacing staff when training proves
ineffective
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| The greenhouse will ensure crops during the cold winter |
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