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27 September 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Dr Frikkie Maré is serving as one of the directors of the non-profit organisation, the Agri Relief Foundation (ARF).

The agricultural sector is used to facing events of abnormal impact, including floods, droughts, veld fires, and disease outbreaks. Even if it is possible to prepare against any of these risks by taking proper measures, for instance by having a farm emergency plan in place or by securing property properly, there are times when it is not possible or practical for the modern-day South African farmer to proactively manage all the risks they are facing.

It is in times like these that the newly established body, the Agri Relief Foundation (ARF), provides an invaluable service to the agricultural sector. 

Dr Frikkie Maré, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS), is one of the directors of this non-profit organisation, which focuses on assisting agricultural producers in need. 

This initiative is the brainchild of a number of businesses in the agricultural sector.

He says although there are many institutions in South Africa assisting farmers, most of the current initiatives are geared towards large-scale disasters, such as severe droughts, floods, unpreventable pests and diseases, and veld fires that affect many producers.  

Benefiting the wider society

According to Dr Maré, the ARF will focus on helping individual agricultural producers who are in need; both financially and otherwise.  This may include elements such as the loss of grazing due to brown locust, assistance after a farm attack or murder to ensure the day-to-day running of the farm, and localised natural disasters such as floods, hail, severe cold, or fire.

The group of directors plays a key role in screening the applications for assistance and deciding, based on merit and the availability of resources, who they can assist.

Besides the direct benefit to the farmer, this initiative also adds value to the wider society. “When the sustainability of an agricultural producer is under threat, it also threatens the livelihoods of his/her workers and their families, the rural economy of the nearest town where they purchase production inputs and general groceries, as well as society at large, as less food and/or fibre will be produced.  The assistance of the ARF will therefore ripple out to a much larger level than only the agricultural producer,” explains Dr Maré. 

A learning experience

There is also a benefit for the university. In the classroom, Dr Maré will be able to share any knowledge he is gaining in this process with his students. “Agricultural Economics is fundamentally about ensuring the long-term sustainability of agricultural production through concepts, including but not limited to, production economics, natural resource economics, agricultural management, and marketing.  My involvement in the ARF will provide examples of what can go wrong in terms of primary production that threatens the sustainability of the enterprise and what can be done to assist,” he says. 

Any business or individual can contribute to this noble cause. Financial contributions as well as physical products such as transport, fuel, animal feed, and legal services are welcome. 

Dr Maré says they have already received contributions from companies such as Zoetis (animal health), which sponsor a part of their profit from certain products to the foundation on a continuous basis. Lavendula (animal feed) also sponsored the proceeds of a farmers’ information day.

News Archive

Research on cactus pear grabs attention of food, cosmetic and medical industry
2015-02-18

Cactus pear
Photo: Charl Devenish

The dedicated research and development programme at the UFS on spineless cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) – also known as prickly pear – has grown steadily in both vision and dimension during the past 15 years. Formal cactus pear research at the UFS started with the formation of the Prickly Pear Working Group (PPWG) in June 2002. It has since gone from strength to strength with several MSc dissertations and a PhD thesis as well as popular and scientific publications flowing from this initiative.

According to Prof Wijnand Swart from the Department of Plant Sciences, the UFS is today recognised as a leading institution in the world conducting multi-disciplinary research on spineless cactus pear.

Cactus pear for animal feed

Increasing demands on already scarce water resources in South Africa require alternative sources of animal feed – specifically crops that are more efficient users of water. One alternative with the potential for widespread production is spineless cactus pear. It is 1.14 x more efficient in its use of water than Old man saltbush, 2.8 x more efficient than wheat, 3.75 x more efficient than lucerne and 7.5 x more efficient than rangeland vegetation.

“Studies on the use of sun-dried cactus pear cladodes suggest that it has the potential to provide some 25% of the basic feed resources required by South Africa’s commercial ruminant feed manufacturing sector,” says Prof HO de Waal of the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS.

Until recently, research has focused extensively on the use of cactus pear as drought fodder. However, this is now beginning to shift, with growing interest in the intensive production of spineless cactus pear for other types of animal feed. One example is the spineless cactus pear fruit, produced seasonal, yielding large quantities of fruit in a relatively short period of a few months in summer. Unless kept in cold storage, the fruit cannot be stored for a long period. Therefore, a procedure was developed to combine large volumes of mashed cactus pear fruit with dry hay and straw and preserve it for longer periods as high moisture livestock feed, kuilmoes – a high water content livestock feed similar to silage.

Cactus pear and Pineapple juice
Photo: Charl Devenish

Cactus pear for human consumption

“In addition to its use as a livestock feed, cactus pear is increasingly being cultivated for human consumption. Although the plant can be consumed fresh as a juice or vegetable, significant value can be added through processing. This potential is considerable: the plant can be pickled; preserved as a jam or marmalade; or dried and milled to produce baking flour. It can also serve as a replacement of egg and fat in mayonnaise,” said Dr Maryna de Wit from the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.

The extraction of mucilage from fresh cladodes can form a gelling, emulsifier, and fat-replacing agent commonly found in food products such as mayonnaise and candy. During an information session to the media Dr De Wit and her team conducted a food demonstration to showcase the use of the cladodes in a juice, chicken stir-fry, biscuits and a salad.

The extrusion of cactus pear seed oil provides a further lucrative niche product to the array of uses. These include high-value organic oil for the cosmetic sector, such as soap, hair gel and sun screens.

The cladodes and the fruit also have medicinal uses. It has anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, pain killing and anti-diabetic agents. It is also high in fibre and can lower cholesterol. The fruit also prevents proliferation of cells and suppresses tumour growth and can even help to reduce a hangover.

In South Africa the outdated perception of cactus pears as thorny, alien invaders, is rapidly disappearing. Instead, farmers now recognise that cactus pear can play a vital role as a high yielding, water-efficient, multi-use crop, said Prof de Waal and the members of the Cactus Pear Team.

Facebook photo gallery
Dagbreek interview with Dr Maryna de Wit  

Research on cactus pear (read the full story)

For more information or enquiries contact news@ufs.ac.za

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