Agricultural direct costs - An extension tool

The paper describes a routine procedure to obtain Agricultural Direct Costs (ADC) which growers and extension officers can use to improve the choice of cost effective agricultural operations. Results of 24 ADC are described which show a wide range in Rand/ton and Rand/hectare harvested and the reasons for the differences are given. The value of the ADC as an extension tool is that, bu quantifying the costs of harvesting, infield transport, ratoon maintenance and planting, it gives authentic on-farm motivation to change.