Introduction

Management of an organic farm enterprise basically has the same underlying objective as any other business; it aims at improving the benefits to the farmer or group of farmers. This is generally done by following two approaches. First, organic farmers focus on reducing farm expenses by optimizing the use of the farm own resources. Secondly, they focus on minimizing production and financial risks, which may be caused by climatic stresses, pest and disease attacks, or price fluctuations.

One of the most valuable resources of an organic farm is the fertility of its soils, as it ensures the long-term productivity of the farm. While proper diversification of crops and animal products will improve the market opportunities and help to reduce production and financial risks. The farmer, as the manager of the farm enterprise, is at the centre of all farm activities. He/she is the overall decision-maker who determines the farm development goals and how well the farm will perform. He/she makes decisions on what to produce and where, how much to produce, what methods of production; where to sell and how, etc. However, in order to take the right decisions, he/she needs to do a proper assessment of the farms resources and potential, expenses, outputs and the resulting profit from the farm activities. This will be followed by proper planning, organising and monitoring of the farm activities in a continuous and cyclical process. The farmer, therefore, continuously needs new information and knowledge which he can get by attending trainings, meetings and discussions with other farmers. It further requires him/her to be proactive to try and test new practices, varieties and breeds in order to continuously improve the farm.

Common limitations to proper farm management in Africa

Limited incomes sources on farms - In most African societies, farming is done with the primary objective to generate enough food for household consumption. Any surplus is then sold to the market. The obtained money helps farmers to access products and services that the farm cannot produce: cloth, household and school items, etc. As African family-based farms tend to be rather small and growing limited options of nearly the crops, most farmers are not able to meet all their basic requirements from the farms. This is because they are normally affected by the same production and marketing risks.
Limited saving potential - Most farmers do not have the capacity to make savings that can enable them to invest in long term improvement of production conditions. The income from production is rather spent on household needs related to food, education, health care, and social commitments (i.e. marriages, funerals). This leaves little or no money for re-investment back into farm activities.
Communal decision making - Many African societies think and work communally. They make farming decisions together deciding what, when, and where to grow, and by whom. Through this interaction they learn from each other and develop trust. The side effect is though that such collective decision making limits the independence, and thus interest, of a particular farmer in implementation of innovations for improvement.
Land ownership/tenure system - In many areas of Africa, farmers do not own the land on which they produce crops or grow animals. Thus, instead of investing into long-term improvement of land productivity, they tend to overexploit these surfaces, causing substantial damages related to overgrazing and soil mining. Moreover, farmers in this case cannot use such lands to access credit for loans or to use the land for activities with long term benefits like tree planting.
Land scarcity - is especially a problem in densely populated areas with little arable land. Under such conditions, farmers may not be able to produce enough to make a reasonable living from field crops. Highly intensive and potentially more profitable enterprises like vegetable production, poultry keeping, honey production, etc. may be limited due to lack of experience, knowledge and money to invest.
Labour shortage - The increase in the number of school-going children, rural-urban migration and the AIDS epidemic have lead to widespread scarcity of labour available in most rural areas. This is especially critical in crops like rice, coffee, etc where there is high labour requirement either during planting or harvesting. This implies that labour costs have risen to a level which may not be profitable anymore for a typical farm.

Although the above challenges may slightly differ between small and big farms, their effects to proper farm management remain the same.

This chapter presents key tools for proper management of a farm enterprise. It emphasizes the importance of proper analysis of the farm situation in terms of resources available, which form the basis for improvement of the farm into a productive and profitable short- and long-term organic enterprise.

Discussion on the key limitations to proper farm management

To understand the common limitations to proper farm management in the local context assess the local situation by asking the farmers the following questions, under the different themes:

Sources of income: What other income activities are you involved in besides farming?

Money saving: What do you think about saving?

Decision making: Who takes the overall decision on what is grown, where, how and by whom?

Land: Do you own the land on which you produce crops and animals? Is there enough land to expand production?

Labour: Do you have enough labour from your homes?

Characteristics of an ideal organic farm

Organic agriculture aims at successfully managing natural resources to satisfy human needs while maintaining the quality of the environment and conserving resources. Organic agriculture thus aims at achieving economic, ecological and social goals at the same time:

Ecological goal: “How does the farm improve nature and survival of other organisms?”
Social goal: “How do other people benefit from the farm?”
Economic goal: “What benefits do I generate from the farm?”

The ecological goal

The ecological goal basically relates to maintenance of quantity and quality of natural resources. Farming should be done in an environmentally-friendly manner, whereby the soil, water, air, plants and animals are protected and enhanced. Organic farmers pay special attention to the fertility of the soil, the maintenance of a wide diversity of plants and animals, and to animal friendly husbandry.

Important environmental goals are:

Prevention of loss and destruction of soil due to erosion and compaction.
Increasing the humus content of the soil.
Recycling farm-own organic materials and minimizing use of external inputs.
Promotion of natural diversity of organisms - being a criterion of a balanced natural ecosystem.
Prevention of pollution of soil, water and air.
Ensuring husbandry that considers natural behaviour of farm animals.
Use of renewable energy, wherever possible.

To achieve these goals organic farmers maintain wide crop rotations, practice intercropping and cover cropping, plant hedgerows and establish agro-forestry systems. They further avoid the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides as well as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which have proved to have negative effects on nature.

The social goal

Organic farming aims at improving the social benefits to the farmer, his/her family and the community in general.

Important social goals include:

Creating good working conditions for all.
Ensuring a safe nutrition of the family with healthy foods.
Ensuring sufficient production for subsistence and income.
Encouraging fair and conducive working conditions for hired workers.
Encouraging learning and application of local knowledge.

From an organic perspective, at the household level fair participation in farm activities of all family members and proper sharing of the benefits from the farm activities is essential. On community level, knowledge and experiences should be shared, and collaboration strengthened in order to obtain higher benefits.

The economic goal

In an economic sense organic farming aims at optimizing financial benefits to ensure short- and long-term survival and development of the farm. An organic farm should not only pay for production costs, but also meet the household needs of the farmer’s family.

Important economic goals include:

Satisfactory and reliable yields.
Low expenditures on external inputs and investments.
Diversified sources of income for high income safety.
High value added on-farm products through improvement of quality and on-farm processing of products.
High efficiency in production to ensure competitiveness.

Organic farmers try to achieve this goal by creating different sources of income from on- and off-farm activities. Usually different crop and animal enterprises are adopted simultaneously in a mixed production system. The target also includes being more self-sufficient in terms of seeds, manures, pesticides, food, feeds, and energy sources and thereby minimizing cash outlay to purchase off-farm items.

Group work: Drawing a farm map indicating the key resources

Show the farmers a sample farm map (check transparency 4) and explain to them, how to draw a farm map. Then organise them in groups of 2 to 3 persons and provide them with pencils and paper and let each farmer draw a map of their farms indicating the key resources.