Absa Bank | Farm training and capacity building

800 farmers successfully participated in the farm training delivered by our highly experienced local team of agricultural consultants, employing methodologies and techniques that encourage active participation such as questions, hands-on trial sessions, field demonstrations and open discussions. Audio-visual aids such as pictures, videos and hands-on trials helped farmers to appreciate the relevance and application of the training being provided. Following a monitoring exercise undertaken to assess the level of adoption of farm training innovations, the following impact and improvements were recorded:

• Trained farmers were empowered to hire more farmhands to undertake activities such as land preparation and spraying of herbicides to expand production areas
• Time spent on-farm activities such as spraying herbicides and land preparation has been reduced
• There is increased use of mechanisation in rice production processes
• Farmers are more conscious of the environmental impact of agrochemicals and are now implementing practices to reduce the use of chemicals on crops and proper disposal of containers

It is anticipated that farmers’ yields for the current production season will increase significantly due to the high level of new production technologies adopted from training and capacity building provided by Farrelly Mitchell. The positive response from farmers to the program, as evidenced in the attendance, participation and results, is a strong indication of how important the farm training was for the trainees and aligning with the objectives of Absa Bank’s objectives.