Many people who enjoy lettuce in their salad may not be aware that it can be a fairly challenging crop to grow commercially. Dicky and Koshik Sitaram, whose family have been producing fresh produce for many years in KwaZulu-Natal, shared the lessons they learned with Lloyd Phillips.
The Sitaram family’s journey to becoming large-scale commercial fresh produce growers was long and difficult. Their first and perhaps greatest setback was during the apartheid years: they were unable to own land on which to develop their commercial farming operation.
Instead, Raj Sitaram (79) and his sons, Dicky (56) and Koshik (51), had to settle for the short-term leasing of a succession of southern KwaZulu-Natal farms. This changed in 1992 when they bought their first farm in KwaZulu-Natal’s Sevenoaks area. It comprised 130ha, of which 60ha were irrigated. However, for various strategic reasons, they sold it in 1999 and again began leasing farms, this time in the province’s Tala Valley area, for fresh produce production.
“From 2005 to 2010 we leased 20ha of the highly productive Southfork farm in Tala Valley,” recalls Dicky, the operation’s marketing manager and principal financial planner.
“Our operation started doing well and this allowed us to build up enough capital to buy the 71ha Tegwaan Nest in the Baynesfield area in 2010. This is where we still farm.
“The Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa played a vital role in providing finance for the purchase of the farm, as well as for our start-up production costs.”
Koshik, who manages the day-to-day farming operations with his father and assistant manager Offer Kapisa, says a priority was to rehabilitate the existing 50ha semi-permanent overhead sprinkler irrigation system and expand it to cover the entire farm. This was achieved rapidly, and now, by drawing water from the nearby Umlaas River with permission from the Umlaas Irrigation Board, all of Tegwaan Nest can be irrigated in a five-day cycle.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Farmer's Weekly 5 October 2018 من Farmer's Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Farmer's Weekly 5 October 2018 من Farmer's Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Syngenta Seedcare celebrates a decade of innovation
Syngenta's ambition is to enable their customers' investments to grow in healthy soil from treated seeds to young plants through innovation and collaboration, writes Magda du Toit.
Agri workers shine at Western Cape awards
Lindie-Alet van Staden, a garden and olive orchard manager at L’Ormarins Wine Estate in Franschhoek, was crowned as the Western Cape Prestige Agri-Worker of 2024 at a gala event recently held near Paarl.
Small and large farmers recognised at grain awards
The annual Grain SA/Syngenta awards ceremony bears testimony to the quality of farmers in the grain industry.
Growing partnerships: Fedgroup's flexible and innovative approach
Janine Ryan spoke to Warren Winchester, general manager of impact investing at Fedgroup, about why the company became involved in agriculture, and what it offers farmers and their immediate communities.
Why fish farms fail, and how to avoid becoming a statistic
The popularity of launching fish farms is not matched by their success. Leslie Ter Morshuizen, owner of Aquaculture Solutions, explores the factors that cause most of these businesses to go under.
Where history and modernity meet in a luxurious setting
Brian Berkman kept his eyes peeled for ghosts in the oldest continuously run hotel in South Africa, but all he found was a fabulous two-night stay.
THE HITCHING POST
I'm a stylish elderly lady with a radiant glow and a good sense of humour that keeps me young at heart.
Cutworms: check the weeds on your fields!
Zunel van Eeden explains why understanding the ecological interplay between cutworms and weeds is crucial for effective pest management. Producers should disrupt the life cycle of cutworms to minimise crop damage.
Does high-density grazing mimic grazing patterns of game?
In their paper on high-density grazing in Southern Africa, professors Angelinus Franke and Elmarie Kotzé from the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences at the University of the Free State say high-density grazing systems may not accurately reflect natural ecosystems. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.
Global grain outlook: 2024/25 marketing season
In its latest summer crops report, the Crop Estimates Committee says South African farmers intend to plant 4,47 million hectares of summer grains and oilseeds in the 2024/25 season, up 1% from the previous season. As South Africa exports maize and soya bean, Annelie Coleman reports on the latest trends in the international grain and oilseed markets, amid fluctuations in weather conditions and ongoing armed conflicts.
