During the 1970 Robert Berold and Dick Cloete (and a few others notably Ben Cousins, who currently serves as Director of PLAAS at UWC) worked on a publication by the Environment and Development Agency Trust called the People’s Workbook which went through several editions.
The People’s Farming Workbook originally was part of the People’s Workbook and expands the section on agriculture. The book was written in the 1970s and is illustrated with etchings and is certainly an important piece of Africana. The book was written during apartheid to enable people to produce food from very little land. In its day, it was a significant statement against apartheid planning and the homelands, but the book is generally positive and not confrontational, and takes all this in its stride as it communicated simple and appropriate means for people to farm for food.
The book starts off with a look at the problems of farming, and it is interesting to see that these are still current. We are still facing the same challenges! The book is also dated, and recent ideas like urban agriculture and or effective microorganisms do not really appear. The book even gives an address and invites people to write (letters) to the authors, and from my interaction with them, it sems they in fact received them.
This farmers Lab wants to pay respect to this book and the people who made it possible. In this Lab we will present the main ideas and message of the book, and give a glimpse of what is contained in it. I want to highlight how this book is still appropriate to our age which is concerned still with poverty and inequality, but now also with entrepreneurship and climate change. Because the book elaborates on how farmers can get ahead without necessarily sourcing inputs from the commercial sector, it is very relevant to how we need to think about sustainability. The book surprisingly also deals with how to manage pesticides and in this sense the book is useful, as any farmer, even an “organic” farmer, would have to know these things.
Please join us for a session where Naude Malan talks about the book and what it could mean for a farmer outside the commercial establishment in South Africa.
The book is comprehensive and is a very good first book for any farmer to acquire. In the book, you will find information on:
• Sustainable agriculture, organic gardening and permaculture: As I said, the book is pretty open to farmers using all kinds of techniques, but the key message is that it is possible to farm effectively and produce a lot of food with non-chemical means. The book has information on the design of the whole farm, from landscape to plants to animals and also includes advice on things like how to fence your farm.
• The book gives a lot of advice on how land and soil can be improved. This includes liquid manure, how to test soils, how to use fertilisers, and how to landscape so erosion is minimized.
• How to work with other farmers. Throughout the book there are case studies (and yes, they are old) on how farmers successfully cooperated on for instance a tool hire to sell system, how they can keep records and how to document events and activities.
• The book gives advice on how to improve soils and this includes principles for sustainability and also methods and techniques to realise this. This also includes advice on testing soils (you have to taste it) and adding lime, potassium, phosphates and nitrogen. There are sections on deep trench gardens, composting etc.
• Additional advice on agroforestry, woodlots, trees for animal foods and also how to plant, prune and care for fruit trees.
• The book has sections on how to raise, care for, slaughter and breed animals. It also has a section on grazing and how this could be improved. They include many animals, also rabbits and geese.
• The book has sections on how to plant, care for and harvest most of the main grain crops.
The book deserves to be better known amongst farmers in South Africa, particularly those without access to fiancé and credit. The easy to use and “cashless” advice they give is an important pointer to how emerging farmers should conceptualise their own enterprise development. It is supremely important that we embark on the journey to agricultural development for new and established farmers by not repeating the mistakes of the past. Farming without costly inputs is the key to profitability, and better livelihoods for farmers. This is old wine in an old bottle, exceptionally ready to drink in the new age!
To order the book, take a look at: https://newafricabooks.com/products/peoples-farming-workbook
The Peoples Farming Workbook will feature on the iZindaba Zokudla Virtual Farmers’ Lab on 1 October at 13h00 until 14h30. Please click the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/284403559935012
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