“If you do not measure, you cannot manage”, is a phrase that many farmers are familiar with. To measure and record what is measured is a basic requirement and necessary for any management system of a farming business. Most farmers have some form of recordkeeping system in place, however, due to the fast-paced agri-businesses are moving at, the task of keeping production input records tends to become a low priority when it comes to everyday business operations.
By using SIZA’s Digital Recordkeeping Tool, you can maintain, monitor, and manage your production inputs and outputs. This means having access to your data at the click of a button, staying effortlessly organized, and enjoying maximum data security– all while taking care of the planet (by going paperless). Capturing your data digitally will eliminate guesswork, allowing you to literally keep your finger on the production inputs and outputs of your business.
The data eligible for capturing on the tool includes volumes of products produced or processed, water usage, electricity usage, fuel usage, usage of plant protection or post-harvest treatment products, and waste production. These measures are in alignment with the SIZA Environmental Standard and the Self-Assessment Questionnaire. In addition, the Digital Recordkeeping functionality allows for the data captured to be processed by an independent agricultural greenhouse gas specialist (such as Confronting Climate Change (CCC)) to generate a carbon footprint calculation. Although a carbon footprint calculation is voluntary, it will prepare a farmer for the Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019, which is scheduled to take effect from January 2026 onwards.
Whether you are a subsistence farmer, an emerging farmer, or a commercial farmer who farms on a smallholding, a small farm, or a large farm, to be sustainable you must keep diligent records. Important questions to ask yourself include:
(1) Can I identify areas of improvement within my business?
(2) Can I learn and grow from my own experiences and evaluate the effectiveness of current management practices?
Let SIZA’s Digital Recordkeeping Programme help you implement a management system that can be sustained for years to come. The choice is yours, but please remember – “if you do not measure, you cannot manage”.
