GDV’s objective is modest growth of its capital base when the farmer has the best chance to generate a profit with every successful harvest.
This approach will be applied for locally-specific crops, such as tomatoes [Israel’s Top Greenhouses & SA’s Kohwa Holdings joint project in tomato growing in KwaZulu Natal, SA], pod borer resistant cowpeas [cowpea.aatf-africa.org], bananas [Self Help Africa’s Banana Enterprise Development Project, Nyimba District Zambia], bee-keeping [Self Help Africa’s Ugandan beekeepers], Self Help Africa’s cage fish farming on Zambia’s Lake Kariba, Self Help Africa’s Ethiopian farmer cooperatives, Vincent Momoba, Ugandan cassava farmer, FARM-Africa’s Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund work on Ugandan chicken production, etc. [See ‘What We Can Learn From Our Customers – The Villages’]
AgBioForum reports on the impact of genetically modified maize on net return risk for smallhold farms in RSA that GM maize producers costs 35% more for seed but 42% less per hectare for labor than non-GM maize producers. In our business case gleaned from actual smallhold producers, GDV funds 6 hectares of Bt maize [Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) drought and pest resistant seed] at $674 per hectare in total input costs, with a gross revenue of $916.80 / hectare (based in recent market prices) just selling the maize. The $674 GDV loan is returned plus 25% of the $242.80 net revenues = $734.70 to GDV. $674 is thus available to reloan again for the hectare’s new planning, and the return of $60.70 is also recycled as additional funding capacity by GDV. The farmer has generated labor costs plus $182.10 per hectare in profit – or R 1,821 South African rands per hectare selling the maize.
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