Tapuwa Mashangwa
ONE of the greatest challenges that farmers come across currently are with markets. This is not to say that the challenge is in finding the market, NO. The challenge is for the full time farmer to find markets for their crop or animal produce as it can be an individual time consuming process.

There are, however, companies that investigate national, regional and international markets for those that earnestly need a market for their produce. It is all about the knowledge. Those that have knowledge have the power to change lives and accomplish a lot. As the Bible to says in Hosea 4 verse 6, ‘my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge’.

Before we delve in the pros and cons of contract farming let us first define the phrase. According to vikaspedia contract farming can be defined as agricultural production carried out according to an agreement between a buyer and farmers, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of a farm product or products. Typically, the farmer agrees to provide agreed quantities of a specific agricultural product. A lawyer should be consulted to establish and create the legal functionality framework mutually beneficial associated with the contract.

In terms of development, the main advantage of contract farming to a nation’s agricultural sector is that it generally capacitates the inexperienced farmer in terms of knowledge and experience. It is hands on and thereby propels the farmer to work hard and to learn from the best in the business or project, which usually is a company carrying out the contract farming.

For the farmers that are struggling with capital and the market, contract farming providers usually have a ready market for the agricultural produce and they tend to provide the required inputs for the agricultural project meaning that the farmer without inputs or capital is assisted whilst they earn something for their hard work to help them setup their own projects.

The probability for failure during the contract farming is very low as one is easily and readily assisted in areas where and when the farmer has doubts or needs with their production system. The lack of development within our agricultural sector has largely been due to the unavailability of knowledge and experienced helpful farmers and also the lack by farmers to consult the relevant experts for the best advice as they regard it as being too costly or unnecessary.

The irony though about this line of thought: Is it not better to pay very little for consultancy services and make huge profits than to ignorantly continue an agricultural project that will not produce the best results and poor profits and can fail or crash.

Another advantage to consider is the risk factor involved. The company doing the contract farming is the one that carries most of the financial risk as they invest their own and most of their capital into the project and provides the expertise to manage the project. All the farmer usually has to do is simply comply and deliver!

There is no perfect existent system on earth and thus contract farming has its downside, which we cannot undermine or ignore.

The disadvantage of contract farming is that it ties one down. It obligates the farmers to the contractual agreement and one is legally bound to adhere to the terms and conditions in the agreement. Thus, one has no freedom of changing their mind afterwards and this may result in court cases and being sued if they fail to deliver.

Another posterior effect of not complying to the contractual agreement means that the farmer can make a loss. We must remember that contract farming is usually a hands on job that requires dedication. If one fails to efficiently and effectively run the agricultural project and the contracting company can decide not to pay out, which they have a right to due to incompliance. Thus, the time cost investment can be gone with the wind and time can never be bought or retrieved once lost. The farmer has to be responsible, accountable, meticulous and hardworking in order to be a successful contract farmer.

Lastly, we must acknowledge that to some extent contract farming stifles innovation. The contractual agreement made at the beginning usually means that it cannot be adjusted hence improvements or new additions to be made to the project would need to be amended over time, which can be time consuming and ineffective as new potential changes can be rejected. In all we cannot undermine the advantages of contract farming.

It is farming of the future and contributes to the collective growth of farming on an international, regional, national and provincial level.

The writer is Eng. Tapuwa Justice Mashangwa, Founder and CEO of Emerald Agribusiness Consultancy based in Bulawayo. He can be contacted on +263 771 641 714 and email: [email protected]