Farmers who serve local communities can be conduits for nutrition education (as they have a compelling and material interest in increasing demand for fresh food), and for waste management. In the USA, local farmers’ markets offer fresh locally produced food at 50% discount to consumers who pay with “food stamps” a social assistance programme of the US Department of Agriculture. The Farmers’ Lab also integrates with local and upmarket retailers, students doing applied and action research and non-government organisations such as Slow Food. This will build a market for locally produced fresh food, build the capacity of local retailers and increase the consumption of nutritious food. To develop small and other emerging farmers in South Africa, we have to take seriously their position in a modern economy, the inequities in society, and the need for truly transformative structural change to the economy and systemic change to the food system. We can also add a further incentive here that will build township economies, at almost no cost to the consumer or retailer. There are indications that the producer price share of food in South Africa, certainly in the mainstream food market, is not enough to enable a small farmer (and many larger farmers) to make a decent livelihood. It would be simple to allow spaza shops to accept consumers’ Sassa cards for fresh produce from BBBEE-certified township-based and other rural emergent and small farmers. 1, pp. The Fourth Industrial Revolution creates new opportunities that have some affinity to the challenges emerging and small farmers have in South Africa. The iZindaba Zokudla’s Farmers’ Lab sits at the heart of this and it integrates the Process, Energy, Environment and Technology Station, the UJ’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and various other academics and centres at the UJ. AFNN talks to Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) CEO and President, Dr Shadrack Moephuli to discuss the challenges, possible solutions and the future of SA agriculture. DM, Naudé Malan, senior lecturer in Development Studies, University of Johannesburg. This local circulation of capital will enable local communities and townships which currently “lose value” to become accumulators of value. This density of relationships around such a small farmer will improve further the innovation and technology adoption of such farms, and facilitate learning and adoption of new measures (which could include food safety, nutrition, niche products and opportunities such as tourism) in the broader community, as we see with the, The adoption of ICTs is a case in point. Communities will benefit not only from the price, but also because they themselves will be able to avoid transport and time costs of trekking to a mall. This all allows the creation of a virtual identity that is as good as setting up shop and premises. Smallholder farmers working in rural areas dominate agribusiness in Africa. Marketing Constraints Facing Emerging Small-Scale Pig Farmers in Gauteng Province, South Africa. This could enable a real presence for small farmers in a real market, and would make aggregation and bulk selling possible and will be less prone to trouble than the failed attempt to get all emerging farmers organised into co-operatives. Communities can now start moving into the digital age and produce would be more easily available than in the nearest supermarket. “There are currently 45 000 people employed in dairies across South Africa,” says Dr. Chris van Dijk, CEO of the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO). Such locally-based enterprises will exhibit a networked character that serve immediate and local communities. It is simply a bad business decision for a small farmer to deliver to supermarkets or fresh produce markets as they obtain very low prices from them for their produce. One of the most important areas of concern in South Africa is education. Not only is vertical farming technology available to enable sustainable livelihoods from about 100m, We can also add a further incentive here that will build township economies, at almost no cost to the consumer or retailer. It can enable a small farmer to process waste in harmless ways. Embedding this further in a digital system will allow ancillary interventions to take place, such as education, finance and waste processing, to name only a few. Supermarkets make very little profit selling fresh kitchen vegetables and this opportunity will not affect their bottom line in any significant way and in fact will make available more disposable cash for manufactured goods. Small scale farmers in South Africa are still facing major challenges in the agricultural sector. We also need to take serious the efficiencies that can be achieved in a locally integrated and networked food enterprise. Fourth Industrial Revolution technology can enable a farmer to command a greater share of the value chain and distribute and market food in the local area, and thus cut out the middlemen and their profits. To “develop” emerging small farmers in South Africa is a complicated task. When we do many things at once, there are better chances for desirable outcomes. All this can be based-on economic incentives and not government largesse. automatically creates an income and expenditure history for participating farmers. (2011). Committed extension services and government support can ensure success of emerging farmers. Food waste (from households and spaza shops) is readily available and the technology is there to process this into harmless form of compost that will boost soil-based organic food production. This approach is being pioneered by researchers and practitioners at the UJ. Many current small farmer apps, like the Khula! , and even Facebook, it will allow a farmer to develop a public profile or page to bridge the gap between formality and invisibility in the informal sector. As this enterprise builds its marketing and distribution networks on local social capital, it will be open to further relationships with knowledge institutions, upmarket retailers, and state agencies and others. challenges faced by emerging farmers in south africa Land redistribution schemes which initiated recently under the national land reform programs in South Africa, have introduced a new generation of previously disadvantaged people to farming, beneficiaries of these land reforms are known as emerging farmers of which mostly are of the black race. Fourth Industrial Revolution technology can enable a farmer to command a greater share of the value chain and distribute and market food in the local area, and thus cut out the middlemen and their profits. Some of the constraints they face relate to lack of access to land, poor physical and institutional infrastructure. Is it a good idea, as many have said, to allow them to compete on par with large producers in a food system that was built around the needs of large commercial producers producing for large urban working-class populations? Issues and challenges for emerging farmers in South Africa The South African agricultural economy has little room for emerging farmers. They have a great potential for innovation, but to achieve this a change in the food system is necessary. Laying the groundwork for SA’s emerging farmers Thoko Didiza takes up the position of overseeing the newly reconfigured agriculture department at a difficult time for the sector. Hence, we should embark from the premise that small and emerging African farmers in South Africa can produce significant volumes and quality, but that the current market structure, which has developed in response to the rise of large commercial agriculture in the last three centuries, is inappropriate and often hostile to them. Most of these ... while at the same time dealing with challenges from climate change and reducing the ... under colonialism and apartheid through land reform and support programmes for black emerging farmers. These technologies are immensely productive and enable solvent enterprises to be built around them and thus the creation of decent livelihoods. ~ André Breton, Please sign in or register to enable this feature. Smallholder farmers in South Africa find it challenging to participate in the modern economy. These relationships between food producers, processors and communities is also a society-wide business education opportunity. 37-42. Laying the groundwork for SA’s emerging farmers Thoko Didiza takes up the position of overseeing the newly reconfigured agriculture department at a difficult time for the sector. Small farmers in South Africa need to be developed by reference to the ideas of a new sustainable and circular economy and this can be realised by Fourth Industrial Revolution strategies. In the. The views expressed in our weekly opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Farmer’s Weekly. Select which newsletters you'd like to receive, We can enable our youth, as the Makers Village in Irene and “.
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