As someone who spends a bit of time thinking about agricultural development and efficiency gains among existing commercial farmers, it is always encouraging to encounter new organisations that are focused on this goal.
Earlier today, I made a brief stop at Khula!, an agri-tech company based in Johannesburg. This was not my first engagement with Khula; I had engaged with the team deeply in the early stages of their work.
But after some years, it was refreshing to listen to their team talk about the various offerings to support farmers and the improvements they make in the efficiencies in the different value chains of our sector. Khula’s work on farm inputs provision, commodities and fresh produce trading, and off-taking of the produce, amongst other things, is all essential to the agricultural industry.
Importantly, they are not only assisting small-scale or exclusively large-scale farmers; their product offering is valuable for all types of farmers. They also cover most commodities, and do not only focus on one subsector.
This is not a sponsored post; I don’t do those. But I felt it was important that I highlight Khula in case some people who read these letters are not aware of young entities like Khula, which are already making great strides.
Khula’s leadership is young and vibrant, and it was very inspiring to listen to them and hear their vision and enthusiasm about South Africa’s agriculture and the entire food, fibre, and beverages value chains.
Of course, the agri-tech companies cannot stand on their own; they are the service providers, which means their growth depends on the support of the various stakeholders. Equally, the various sector stakeholders could realise some efficiency gains when bringing in or collaborating with various agri-tech organisations.
The success of the South African agricultural sector is reliant on the efforts of many organisations and individuals, including scientists, breeders, seed companies, machinery suppliers, financiers, input suppliers, agribusinesses, traders, and many more valuable organisations and service providers.
The agri-tech new firms add to this line of organisations that sustain this critical sector of our economy that we all take pride in, which has more than doubled since 1994 in value, with exports at nearly US$14 billion a year, and made South Africa the only African country in the top-40 global agricultural exporters.
I have mentioned Khula here, but we have many other young agri-tech companies in South Africa, such as OneFarm Share, AgrigateOne, Nile, and Agrimall, among others. I know I have skipped a few (apologies).
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