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16 October 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Dr Jan Swanepoel believes that the agricultural sector must be assisted in every possible way to shift its focus from mere subsistence farming, as is still the case in many parts of the world, to sustaining the lives of millions of people on the planet.

17 October is marked as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by the United Nations (UN). 

The University of the Free State (UFS) is involved in several initiatives aimed at empowering communities to create a sustainable livelihood for themselves in the long run.

One of these initiatives includes a project to build competitiveness for communal farmers by developing the wool value chain in the Free State. 

The UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension (CENSARDE) submitted a proposal to the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM); their proposal was selected, and they were awarded a grant of US$300 000. 

Dr Jan Swanepoel, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at CENSARDE, says the world is moving from local and national markets towards a global system of trading. This means that neighbouring farmers working on small plots of land may be competing with large industrial farmers from another country in a single marketplace.

A drive to commercialise

He adds that in developing countries, there is increasing pressure on farmers to commercialise their operations. “In order to meet the drive for greater commercialisation, new skills must be developed to support farmers in becoming better entrepreneurs. Assistance towards infrastructure must be provided; and the needs of farmers, such as market access, must be identified and catered for.”

Dr Swanepoel points out that the agricultural sector must be assisted in every possible way to shift its focus from mere subsistence farming, as is still the case in many parts of the world, to sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people on the planet. 

“As the agricultural sector starts to realise this more fundamental role and responsibilities with regard to production, new strategies can be conceived towards the enhancement of the socio-economic status of all role players in the agricultural sector,” he says.

One of the industries that agriculture in South Africa can expand on, is the wool industry. 

“China is the biggest buyer of South African wool. During lockdown, no wool from South Africa was exported to China, causing the price of wool to drop significantly. Fortunately, the markets have opened up, the excess wool from Australia has been absorbed, and China is buying wool at full capacity now. Even though the price of wool is 30% below the price of last year, the markets are reacting positively, showing a steady increase. Wool buyers believe that this trend will continue due to international market demand exceeding the supply,” says Dr Swanepoel.

He also believes the creation of niche products from the wool will add to the existing value chain, creating more jobs and an opportunity for enlarging the export market.

Profitable and sustainable venture

CENCARDE is involved in an attempt to transform communal woolgrowers’ production from an underachieving enterprise to a profitable, sustainable, and renewable venture to enhance the livelihoods of communal wool producers. 

“In addition, with the extension of the value chain directly to consumers, job creation and development plays a vital role in supporting the South African National Treasury’s strategy,” adds Dr Swanepoel.

This project is thus built around the commercialisation of wool production in the communal areas of the Free State, by developing strategies to be implemented concurrently in order to attempt to manage the various challenges faced by these growers. 

As part of this project, a centralised infrastructure hub will be established on the UFS experimental farm to support wool production and processing. Woolgrowers, sheepshearers, and men and women from the community will also be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to operate in the wool industry. Adding to these skills, members of the community will be taught entrepreneurial skills in different aspects of wool processing, such as knitting, making felt products, spinning, and weaving. 

Another helpful aspect of this project is linking the communal woolgrowers to markets, and in so doing, giving them a collaborative advantage.

Educational benefits

However, not only communal woolgrowers will benefit from this programme. It also has educational benefits, as the project is designed to incorporate research. According to Dr Swanepoel, CENSARDE is very committed and are using this project as a pilot to demonstrate the potential for a more multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach to education, research, and development. Fifteen students will directly benefit from this project, including two PhD and three master’s students.

Also adding value to the project is the development of private partnerships in the form of the Dohne Merino Breed Society, commercial farmers, and other key wool marketing agencies – which will assist with technical matters and knowledge – as well as the Free State Department of Agriculture.

All participants strive for more profitable and competitive communal woolgrowers in a changing global wool market. The project is not another educational exercise but will equip woolgrowers to change their circumstances for the better.

News Archive

Sites of memory. Sites of trauma. Sites of healing.
2015-04-01

Judge Albie Sachs – human rights activist and co-creator of South Africa’s constitution – presented the first Vice Chancellor’s Lecture on Trauma, Memory, and Representations of the Past on 26 March 2015 on the Bloemfontein Campus.

His lecture, ‘Sites of memory, sites of conscience’, forms part of a series of lectures that will focus on how the creative arts represent trauma and memory – and how these representations may ultimately pave the way to healing historical wounds. This series is incorporated into the five-year research project, led by Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, and funded by the Mellon Foundation.

Sites of memory and conscience – and healing

“Deep in solitary confinement, I read in the Bible: ‘the lion lay down with the lamb … swords will be beaten into ploughshares.’” And with these opening words, Judge Sachs took the audience on a wistful journey to the places in our country that ache from the past but are reaching for a better future at the same time.

Some of the sites of memory and conscience Judge Sachs discussed included the Apartheid Museum, Liliesleaf, District Six Museum, and the Red Location Museum. But perhaps most powerful of them all is Robben Island.

Robben Island

“The strength of Robben Island,” Judge Sachs said, “comes from its isolation. Its quietness speaks”. Former prisoners of the island now accompany visitors on their tours of the site, retelling their personal experiences. It was found that, the quieter the ex-prisoners imparted their stories, “the gentler and softer their memories; the more powerful the impact,” Judge Sachs remarked. Instead of anger and denouncement, this reverence provides a space for visitors’ own emotions to emerge. This intense and powerful site has become a living memory elevated into a place of healing.

After Judge Sachs visited the National Women’s Memorial in Bloemfontein some years ago, he came to an acute realisation as he read the stories, experienced the grief, and saw the small relics that imprisoned commandoes from Ceylon and St Helena sculpted. “It’s so like us,” he thought, “our people on Robben Island making a saxophone out of seaweed, our people carving little things. It was so like us. It was another form of inhumanity to human beings in another period.”

The Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court next to the Old Fort Prison is also a profound site of trauma and healing. Bricks from the awaiting trial lock-up were built into the court chambers. “We don’t suppress it, we don’t say let’s move on. We acknowledge the pain of the past. We live in it, but we are not trapped in it. We South Africans are capable of transcending, of getting beyond it,” Judge Sachs said.

Transforming swords into ploughshares

Judge Sachs had great praise for Prof Gobodo-Madikizela’s research project on Trauma, Memory, and Representations of the Past. “You convert and transform the very swords, the very instruments, the very metal in our country. In a sense, you almost transform the very people and thoughts and dreams and fears and terrors into the ploughshares; into positivity.”

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