Buhle Farmers' Academy

Project details
Partner(s): Buhle Farmers Academy was established in 2000 by the Food Health Hope Foundation. The Academy was established to support the initiatives aimed at sound economic development in South Africa through the effective use of land, capital and human resources in the Agricultural sector. Situated in Mpumalanga, Buhle Farmer’s Academy aims at addressing the lack of human capital within the agricultural sector by focusing on providing technical knowledge, practical farming skills, and farm business skills. The aim is to produce farmers not employees. It is therefore vital for the graduates to move out from Buhle armed with HANDS-ON skills so as to make informed decisions about use of resources to generate income profitably and sustainably. Delmas is a small farming town situated east of Johannesburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The farms in the region produce maize, wheat, potatoes and chickens. The town was laidout in 1907 on the farm Witklip. The farm was owned by a Frenchman Frank Dumat, who decided to call the town "de le mas" (of the small farm). Our Involvement: SAIE provides the technical aspects of Buhle Farmer’s Academy’s high expertise program; technical knowledge, practical farming skills, and farm business skills. SAIE’s AgripPlanner program equips the Buhle graduates with sufficient hands on skills to become self sustainable. SAIE AgriPlanner expertise feeds into Buhle’s seven Agri-based programs: Basic Vegetable Production (3½ months); Crop Production (9 months); Basic Livestock Production (2½ months); Poultry Production (2 months); Short Crop Course (1 week); Nutrition Course (1 week); Project Management Course (1 week) reaching up 365 people. Project Progress: Three Buhle facilitators were trained over a five day period in January 2008, with a five day support visit conducted in March 2008 at the Buhle Farmers Academy outside Delmas. The AgriPlanner programme forms part of Buhle's curriculum, with 20 learners benefitiing per quarter. The first 20 learners to have benefitted from AgriPlanner will be graduating at a ceremnony to be held at the Academy on 12 June 2008.
	Funder:
	Product: Agri Planner
	Location: Mpumalanga Project Completion:

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Agri Planner

The AgriPlanner business simulation training tool is designed to assist emerging farmers with their production capacity and financial planning. AgriPlanner goes beyond the practicalities of simply growing to look at how growers could make the most productive use of the land and maximize their financial income. It provides a comprehensive business development and entrepreneurship training programme that adds value to the gardening skills training programmes and enables growers and small-scale farmers to take the first steps from basic subsistence (food security) to income-generation and small business development. AgriPlanner directly supports growers in establishing and running viable businesses and gives the knowledge and means through which they can begin to enter the formal economy.

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