PASSION. COMMITMENT.
UNDERSTANDING.
97 YEARS.
Your dedicated partner in agricultural training and development.
Your dedicated partner in agricultural training and development.
Lemang Agricultural Services offers both farmers and corporates a variety of training and development choices, with the aim of supporting new era farmers in a way that ensures they are viable, independent and economically successful. Our approach draws on almost a century of experience in agriculture in support of continued food security, prosperity and sustainability across South Africa. Lemang unlocks the potential of new era farmers and their land through training, mentorship, technical assistance and exposure, increasing agricultural productivity and access to markets.
Lemang Agricultural Services delivers new era farmer training and development programmes. As part of this, we use study groups and trial sites to demonstrate the latest technology, including precision farming. Mentors and agronomists are on hand to share practical information and knowledge and offer insight that comes from many years of experience.
Our objective is to unlock the potential of the farmer on his or her farm so that we can deliver successful farmers over time.
Our focus on mentorship is arguably the most valuable component of all and has been the secret of our success – by working directly with new era farmers throughout the process, our mentors are able to assist farmers improve yields. Grain marketing and price hedging are also an integral part of any successful farming operation and of the profit earned from different crops.
We assist new era farmers though AFGRI’s Grain Management services, and farmers are taught to understand the basics of the futures market. Farmers are also provided with basic business skills training.
Finally, our training and development provides finance to farmers and exposure to the latest technology and farming best practice through organised Farmers’ Days. AFGRI has a rich history of conducting these events very successfully to develop historically disadvantaged new farmers and small suppliers to become full participants in the commercial agricultural value chain.
PASSION. COMMITMENT. UNDERSTANDING. 97 YEARS.
Unlocking the potential of farmers and their farms through training, development and mentorship, funding and access to market.
Lemang Agricultural Services has an established training hub known as the Vastfontein Academy, which focuses on the training of micro and large new era farmers as well as community transformation in general. It is important that in every community we operate in, we are able to improve the lives of the people living in it, not only through enabling successful farming but by also by transforming the community in other aspects including education, health care, etc.
The Academy is fully operational and is situated in Gauteng, around 30 kilometres north of Pretoria. It consists of the following:
Lemang Agricultural Services is part of the AFGRI Group which is leading the charge in the agricultural sector by launching this disruptive new agtech platform, Axl. This is the first of its kind in South Africa – an online platform designed to enable the convenient rental of farm equipment, facilitating the contract between the renter and the owner in a few simple steps.
Axl allows farmers to find, rent and pay for agricultural equipment through a secure online portal, enabling service providers – equipment owners, retailers and contractors – to build their business, grow revenue streams and optimise the process of renting out machines. Axl also provides payment solutions that ease cashflow challenges for service providers, while connecting renters to a quality rated service.
Our value proposition is to directly target initiatives that stimulate and sustain agricultural and rural economic growth and ensure the empowerment and much-needed employment of the community.
Most new era farmers have a huge amount of passion for agriculture. The unfortunate reality, through no fault of their own, is there is often a lack the technical and financial knowledge and support to convert this passion into sustainable business success. This can mean that their credit risk is high and consequently new era farmers cannot access finance from banks and other financial institutions because they have no track record of success.
Our goal is to develop historically-disadvantaged farmers and small suppliers to be full participants in the commercial agricultural value chain.
We set out to:
We aim to reduce:
The credit risk profile decreases as
new era farmers receive technical training
and become more knowledgeable and
successful at farming and managing their finances.
By partnering with Lemang Agricultural Services, the dedicated training and mentorship received through the programme builds skills, and over time, helps to reduce credit risk and supports better farming, agronomy and financial success.
The amount of mentorship new era farmers receive from the programme also lessens over time, as mentors pass on their knowledge to the farmers. However, our mentors are always available to be called on if needed.
As part of AFGRI Agri Services, a leading agribusiness in South Africa, Lemang Agricultural Services is able to leverage off not only the internal knowledge and expertise built up over the past 97 years as well as the large and well-known local footprint. AFGRI Agri Services also has a presence in Africa, and a growing capacity in Western Australia. AFGRI Agri Services is also able to support Lemang with the necessary skills, and renders a critical support component to the entire Lemang team.
Lemang currently has projects in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the North West and Limpopo, with the Vastfontein Training Academy based in Tshwane able to cater for learners, providing accommodation and land for practical demonstrations and tutorials.
Across South Africa, emerging farmers are making huge strides thanks to Lemang Agricultural Services. Here is a snapshot of what has been achieved over the past four years.