© Bread Africa"A lot of farmers ask me about G.A.P.," says Palesa Motaung of Bread Africa, an agricultural consultancy. Motaung built her consultancy's reputation through helping farmers to secure market access. Now she is taking it several steps further, translating dense agricultural research and expert knowledge into simple, intuitive digital tools. "My goal is clear: using technology to unlock the markets and finance that allow farmers to thrive in an increasingly rigid global food system."
Her journey began, she says, with a simple observation: "Farmers today are crushed by a double burden - the high-stakes demands of actual primary production, layered with the increasingly complex administrative reality of running the business of farming."
To bridge the gap between production and business, she introduced Percy Price, a WhatsApp-based intelligence tool. Unlike basic price lists, she explains, Percy Price provides real market context by scraping and cleaning over ten years of historical data from the Durban and Johannesburg municipal markets.
"By layering a decade of trends into current prices, Percy gives farmers the intelligence they need to negotiate on an equal footing with the largest buyers. I believe so deeply in the value of open-source data that I decided the service would remain a free entry point into the Bread Africa ecosystem."
© Bread Africa
'Digital secretary' living on WhatsApp
Motaung remarks that the need for Bread Africa's subscription service, called Farm-In-A-Box (FIAB), is driven by a massive shift in how society grows its food. "Fifty years ago, a farmer might have sprayed their crops twice a season. Today, they are spraying twelve times or more," she explains. "Between the explosion of agro-chemicals and the high standards of retailers, a paper notebook just doesn't work anymore."
To address the increasing administrative burden on farmers who need to become accredited, Motaung developed Thuto, which she calls a 'digital secretary' living on WhatsApp. Thuto acts as a concierge, guiding farmers through the four core pillars of food safety compliance, farm management, accounting and tax, and, fourthly, environmental compliance. Many of her clients require SA G.A.P to become retail-ready. Farm-In-A-Box digitizes the static and dynamic records required, from land-use risk assessments to daily harvest logs, and stores them in a central location accessible to relevant stakeholders.
The system sends timeous notifications regarding crop protection to farmers, alerting them to specific pests and diseases at particular periods, providing tailored spraying programmes and fertiliser regimes.
"The accounting and tax module aims to solve the 'poor balance sheet' problem. On paper, many farmers seem 'unbankable' or appear to have poor collateral because they are not tracking inventory or biological assets," she says. "Thuto uses plant population counts layered with Percy Price's market prices to value crops that are still in the ground. It also automates complex reclaims like the diesel rebate."
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) and water use license (WUL) module was born, she remarks, from a recurring hurdle faced by farmers. "We found that public financiers often demand water licenses and environmental authorizations before they approve funding. We believe this support should be part of the funding package itself. Until then, Thuto handles the paperwork so the farmer can stay in the game."
She observes that what makes the platform unique is that Thuto doesn't just ask for data; the digital secretary also acts as a digital tutor. "If a farmer is asked about a sewage declaration or chemical handling, Thuto explains the safety risk behind the question. This ensures that farmers aren't just rubber-stamping forms; they are becoming more professional operators."
The system also connects farmers to a vetted service provider ecosystem, whether that is certified training or hazardous waste collection. "Thuto facilitates the connection, ensures that the service is rendered, and files the resulting certificates directly into the farmer's secure digital vault."
For Motaung, the technology is only one part of the story. "Bread Africa remains deeply committed to research and the development of alternative value chains, with a specific focus on bringing indigenous crops back into the commercial spotlight. Whether I am analyzing soil samples or helping a commercial grower to reclaim their diesel rebates, my focus is on building a single source of truth for the farm. By giving farmers the tools to manage the modern complexities of the soil and the balance sheet, Bread Africa is doing more than just digitizing records: we are harvesting Africa's potential."
For more information:
Palesa Motaung
Bread Africa
Email: [email protected]
https://breadafrica.co.za/projects/farm-in-a-box
Farm-In-A-Box: https://27768277947.wa.pulse.is/
