southern africa food security change lab phase one synthesis document 12 march 2010 (1)
TRANSCRIPT
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TOWARDS A FOOD SECURE SOUTHERN AFRICA
Perspectives from the Field
A working document synthesizing interviews with key stakeholders in the food system
12 March 2010
Prepared by Reos with input from Ralph Hamann of UCT Graduate School of Business and
Milla McLachlan Stellenbosch University.
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Towards a Food Secure Southern Africa 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
INTRODUCTION 5
1. THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM 6
1.1 .THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM: SYSTEM PLAYERS 6
1.1.1POOR CONSUMERS
1.1.2RETAILERS
1.1.3MANUFACTURERS
1.1.4FARMERS
1.1.5FARM WORKERS
1.1.6INPUT PROVIDERS
1.1.7 THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
1.1.8 ACADEMIA
1.2 THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM:STRAINED AND STRETCHED 32
1.3 THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM:SEEDS OF CHANGE 37
2. THE WAY FORWARD 41
2.1PLACES AND SPACES OF POSSIBILITY
2.2THE PARADIGM SHIFT
2.3THE VALUE CHAIN APPROACH
3. WE MAKE THE PATH BY WALKING IT 51
3.1FINDING PLACES TO LEVERAGE MEANINGFUL CHANGE3.2SEEING MORE OF THE SYSTEM
3.3TAKING ACTION
APPENDIX 1: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES SEPARATE
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This synthesis report is a key outcome of phase 1 in a year-long change lab process
focused on identifying opportunities for addressing food insecurity in South and southern
Africa. It is a working document intended to highlight issues raised in 21 interviews with keyrole-players in government, business and civil society. (See appendix 1 for a list of
interviewees.)
The writers of this report have highlighted a range of issues, including those that representareas of agreement and convergence among interviewees, as well as those where there
is some disagreement. Strongly emphasized opinions by one or just a few interviewees are
also represented. The purpose of the report is therefore NOT to report on consensus about
the most popular opinions, but instead to bring attention to issues the various players
interviewed felt strongly about.
This report aims to achieve a few things: firstly, to help all stakeholders in the food securitysystem see the issues as a whole the system that spans production through to
consumption. Secondly, the report aims to identify the areas that need attention. And
thirdly, the report highlights areas where players have energy to contribute collectively.
This report only mirrors the views of the 21 interviewees. No additional information is
included. Even though these interviewees represent a broad spectrum of the food security
system, there are gaps. Also, most of the interviewees are from South Africa and while
they considered and addressed regional issues, they view them from a South African
perspective. To broaden the information available, we have added a press review on
food security from January to December 2009, as well as a high-level desk review.
An Overview of the Synthesis Report
This report is divided into three main sections. The first section looks in some detail at what
interviewees said about the current reality of the food system, the second section explores
what was said about future options, and the third section looks into what choices need to
be made and where to start.
In the Current Reality section, all of the players who in some way influence food security
are outlined, as identified by interviewees. The interviewees had much to say about the
role players spanning the entire value chain: farmers and farm workers, input providers
(seed, fertilizer, transport, water and land), manufacturers, retailers, and finally consumers.The role of the state came up frequently in different forms. Regulation issues were
highlighted, both on the agricultural side (emerging farmers) and consumer side (food
quality and safety). Related to this, competition policy was an emotive topic raised by
many. The role of research was mentioned as a contributing factor to innovation and
validation of better food security processes. Social partners such as the Food Bank and
GAIN were referenced repeatedly as important umbrella organisations helping to reduce
food insecurity. This section also includes a systems overview of food security what
interviewees had to say about the overall strains and stretches of the existing system. It isinteresting to note that many of the interviewees suggest that the players at the two ends
of the value chain (farmers/farm workers and consumers) are increasingly the most
vulnerable to forces beyond their control that influence food security. Some intervieweesquestioned whether a more local/regional focus was necessary to address food insecurity,
rather than the existent global, open market, approach. This was a contested issue. The
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move into Africa by mostly retailers also provoked some comment about its implications
for food security in southern Africa, positive or negative. To wrap up this section,
interviewees highlighted a range of initiatives, which are already in progress and
improving the situation.
The second section of the report looks at future paths what respondents said about
where we are heading, and would like to head. There were two main views emerging. The
first supported a more incremental approach to better food security, which made use of
existing systems and policies. The second advocated for the entire food system to be
changed in some way, either through government policy and regulation, or for example,growing the idea of livelihood farming by connecting many more people to the
possibilities of growing their own food and distributing excess through new channels such
as cooperatives. Sometimes, the same person expressed aspects of both views.
The final section of the synthesis report motivates for the approach of making the path
while walking it. After reviewing the interviews and how they reveal the system of food
security, the authors have observed that there are parts of the value chain that are
becoming increasingly vulnerable farmers and consumers in particular. Creating a more
sustainable food system one that works for everyone will require a better
understanding of how consumers (particularly low income consumers) and farmers
(including farm workers) experience the system. Only then can we work together to
create the kind of system we want. Part of a collaborative exercise would need to look athow we can improve this reality. Firstly, by taking Learning Journeys to see this reality
firsthand, and secondly by identifying where opportunities exist to change it. Participants
will have the opportunity to share this experience with other players in different sectors of
the value chain, thus expanding relationships and broadening peoples awareness of
what it is like to see the food security reality from multiple perspectives. From these
learning and sharing opportunities, participants will establish what particular issue or
problem they would like to tackle together.
The intention from here on is that the process follows the needs and interests of the
participants involved, and the design of the project is therefore being kept as flexible as
possible to enable you to have the impact in the system that you can and want to have.
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1. THE CURRENT SYSTEM
This section looks at the food system as it currently is, in three ways. Firstly, it considers the
major players in the system, as described and viewed by interviewees, secondly it looks in
overview at the big issues and trends that interviewees drew attention to, which were
largely, although not exclusively, issues of concern. And finally, the section ends bylooking at the seeds of change: activities and initiatives already happening in the system
that are sources of inspiration and focus for future action.
1.1 THE CURRENT SYSTEM: SYSTEM PLAYERS
Interviewees spoke in depth about most of the players in the food system. The views
expressed are presented here beginning with consumers, moving through the system to
producers, and finishing with government and academia who play a more diffused role
across the system. NGOs were not discussed at any length, but their role emerges in a
number of the issues, such as welfare responses and working with subsistence farmers,
later in the document.
1.1.1POOR CONSUMERS
Several interviewees felt that in recent years in the sub-region of Southern Africa, poor
consumers have become worse off, and this reality is unlikely to change. There are
different opinions about direct support to alleviate immediate needs.
ACCESS
One researcher underlined that,
relatively, food in South Africa is goodvalue.
If you are looking at bread, we
have the second cheapestbread in the world, compared toEgypt (the cheapest), theyre
getting a lot of support. If you
look at protein, poultry, especially
broilers we used 16kg per
capita in 1996 to 32kg today
that tells you that distributionchannels and production are
becoming more efficient.
But a more consistent message emergedabout it remaining out of reach for the
poor.
Our food is relatively affordable.The problem is that most people
cant afford it, as they dont earn
enough.
In SA and many other parts of
southern Africa, the food issue is
a price issue. Its not because it
isnt available.
If we produce enough food,
there will be enough to eat, butthe problem for SA is where
access to that food is a huge
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problem
And that creating jobs is key to improving
peoples access to food.
We shouldnt blame the food
prices; we need to create jobs.
Food security is an
unemployment issue..
When it comes to quality, one industry
player mentioned that were relativelywell off
We have good quality food for a
developing country.
But again theres concern about the
quality of food the poor can afford.
What comes up for me is the
quality of food issue: people
must know when they are eating
junk. They are forced to buy
cheap junk, which is essentially
very value free and they land up
very unhealthy. Theyre forced to
increasingly give up old forms of
good nutrition.
How do we make sure that wehave quality food that is of
value? South Africa is not a poor
country, but we still have people
who go hungry.
A couple of retailers mentioned this as a
significant concern
The additives issue is based on
work we do within the business.
All of our permanent staff go
through regular tests .. we
realized that our staff were eating
rubbish, and the nutritionists said
that these foods could be
replaced with more healthy
ingredients.
Retailers also spoke about the difficulties
and knock on effects of their taking
action on quality issues.
The people at the bottom of the
consumer market are suffering
the most .(on) food qualityfor example, tartrazine inconcentrates is alive and well in
LSM 2-4. You wont find these in
LSM 7-10 you can (remove
tartrazine) and have no impact
on the cost but.as soon as
we try to introduce food of a
better quality, we lose customers
to the independent wholesalers.
How do we protect our market
share and get these guys to dothe right thing? It needs sensible
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legislation by government.
Theres a particular
supplier.a product the
emerging market loves.. Our
guys went into the factory
..(wanted to) close it down from
a hygiene point of view. Its one of
the biggest selling lines in (a
competitors business). So nowwhat do we do? Do we say, well
were not going to take that
product..? So they got an
opposition to (shutting it
down)... its taken us a year to
get him up to standard so that
we can now start taking it.
And one spoke about the potential
downside of the Consumer Protection
Act.
The whole thing interacts in our
lives in our lives its all about
price and availability and price is
a function of supply anddemand, and the food safety
issue kills the small guy, which
limits our options on supply.
A lone voice mentioned the priorities
implicit in producing for export and the
impact of that on local childrens health.
Weve been wanting to produce
for export even though its not
fetching a return.. at the
expense of food crops, fisheries
and livestock.. we produce
mango, bananas etc. to conform
to EuroGAP to supply
European children and let ours
eat the mycotoxins in lower
standard foodkids in farm
villages eat ground nuts with
200ppm of mycotoxins per day.
Its a big hurdle to cross.
WELFARE RESPONSES
Interviewees gave their views on three types of welfare response: the Food Bank, which
distributes surplus food donated by manufacturers and retailers, Social Grants provided by
the government, and donor funded food gardening projects.
A few see subsidized support to food
gardens offering a good alternative.
..its about making a little bit of
land available, its teaching the
skills, its merely giving them a
little bit of a start in life whetherits the seeds whatever it is - get
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them involved there. I have seen
such passion in the food gardens
that weve put up, its incredible.
Home gardeners are using their
own land, that can feed a
family of 4 or 5, all year round
with all their vegetable
requirements.
While some are skeptical about the
sustainability and impact of food
gardens.
We see lots of little vegetable
gardens but dont really know
what contribution they make to
food provisioning, how
sustainable they are and whether
skills are being transferred.
Others frustrated that gardens arent
enough.
Food gardens are a part of it, but
weve been relegated there by
peoples mentalities in
government, and international
agencies.
One commented on the problem of the
poor spend their food money with large
retailers and not local suppliers.
Social grants they leak out of
the communities whereas they
could be a major source of
support for local economies, I
mean that transfer of income is
massive and it adds to the
demand for food.
Another wanted them tied to behaviour
change and productivity.
Social grants should be used to
reward positive behaviour and
funds should be used to acquire
resources for productivity.
While the Food Bank was loved by one. Were very involved with the food
bank and we just think its
brilliant: they provided a real
business solution. We give themall of our obsolete stock todistribute previously wed be
donating good stock and just
destroying all of the old stock. We
can track it to make sure that
were doing the right thing first.
We decided to stop there
because we wanted to move
away from the mentality of hand
out
And not by another. Bringing waste food back into
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feed people, if thats used as a
tool to undermine family farming,
thats a problem thats
effectively what it is:
unconsciously not consciously.
1.1.2RETAILERS
Although retailers have been criticised by a number of interviewees for making too muchprofit, and affecting local supply chains, they are also faced with a number of constraints
highlighted below. The fact that most of South Africas big retailers have an increasing
and major presence in neighbouring countries imply that these issues are also relevant for
the sub-region.
SECURING SUPPLY
Retailers expressed repeated concern
about their ability to secure supplies.
We have been asking suppliers of
dry groceries for assurances that
they have ongoing supply. It is a
consistent theme that these
manufacturers are finding iteasier to import than procure
locally.
Its almost become a business
requirement. The C.E.O. says,
youve got to risk, were not sure
we can actually secure supply.
Weve already experienced
problems in our business.
(x retailer) wants to create viable
black farmers and is pushing
government at the highest level.
This is a big concern for retailers.
Will they maintain their supplies?
If you start backing the big horses
and the big horses havent got,staple food youve got aproblem. We obviously try to
keep an open channel with the
supply markets outside of South
Africa ..to supply and meet
consumer demand on basic
foodstuffsby constantly looking
at new markets and international
pricing when it comes to staple
foods.
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COLLABORATION NEEDS AND INTERESTS
Collaboration is a consistent theme that
comes up for retailers when addressing
food security.
Problem number one is getting all
the role players collaborating.
It is easy to point fingers at the
retailers, they would benefit from
a forum where they can discuss
the reality.
We must reach agreement on
where we can collaborate vs.
compete. We are still, to a
large extent, trying to go at it
alone.
And the current Competition Commission
activity makes some hesitant
Sadly one of the impacts of the
competition investigations is that
those retailers that worked
together on issues of mutual
interest, crime for example, or BEEcredentials, are a little reluctant
to talk to each other.
I attended an event last year
.apparently most of the
corporates that were intended to
be there at the last minute
declined because they felt that
the Competition board would
see it as collusion.
Or they state their competitive
boundaries clearly
Operational efficiency is a clear
place to work (to improve food
prices). But there isnt a retailer in
the country that will collaborate
on this issue. Its our source of
competitive advantage.
And there are places where people feelit could happen to the benefit of
allwaste
parts of waste, like crates forbread. At the moment, no one
pays deposit for crates, and they
go missing all the time. There is an
industry that steals these crates
and makes hangers, which are
sold on the street. This will surely
impact the cost of bread.
Logistics. In my view, the biggest effort
needs to be on logistics.
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Packaging. Were looking at the packaging
issue: its non-competitive. If you
go to Nestle and say your baby
formula is hopelessly over-
packaged .Its a benefit that
will be experienced across the
supply chain, and its to our
benefit.
And philanthropy. The other area where we thinkthere needs to be better
collaboration is in hunger relief
efforts. its a disparate focus.
Some acknowledge that collaboration
and self-regulation will only get you so far.
We cant do the pretty stuff that
adds cost to the supply chain.
They can do that in North
America, they can do that in
Europe.when it is something
that is so important, and it has to
increase cost, then
regulate.there are areas wherewe need to be promoting
regulation this was a big aha for
us.
Beyond the industry, there is work to be
done on building trust.
As a whole, we are a shy
organization, partly because
were modest and partly
because you get nailed. Were
business people, and happy to
engage in a constructive way.
But quite frankly there are some
civil society elements that are too
radical, they hijack the process
and use it for other agendas.
Although others have appetite to get into
the ring
(We) want to meet with labour
Cosatu and Solidarity, and the
Department of Trade andIndustryin the same room, and(get their) views on food security.
Lets agree on a study, and its
scopewho should conduct this
studysomeone we can all have
confidence in. We will abide by
the outcomes...we criticise each
other on the basis of this
document. Ill pay for that study.
Who needs to be in that room?
And another asked for focus. If its a single-issue initiative, then
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we would be interested. If we
start adding in a whole lot of
stuff, then it becomes clumsy and
not enough happens.
1.1.2MANUFACTURERS
Most comments about and from manufacturers centred on the power they wield in thesystem and how that is harnessed for good or ill.
Collusion was a concern for some when
considering the manufacturing sector.
Processors thats still a highly
concentrated marketfor
example you have a few poultry
firms that are breeding and
some of them dont supply
parent stock on the open market,
some have started and you are
restricted to buying day old
chicks the allegation is that
they are tying ..day old chicks tothe feedyou cant buy feed on
the open market discounts
disappear.
It must lie in vertical integration (x
manufacturer) produces, buys,
got silos, got millers youve got
this massive vertical integration
chain, who knows what happens
in that? I suspectas the price
of your commodity falls, they are
lagging the fall with the actual
processed product.
There is also a history in that
industry of price collusion,
bullying and so on. I would
venture that perhaps noteverything that should havecome out has come out yet.
But like the retailers, there is willingness to
find the places where collaboration can
work
We need to partner with direct
competitors for peasto say, lets
do this together where we have
an initiative to grow peas or
whatever, or tomatoes where
we have an off take agreement
thats going to satisfy all of our
involvements and have oneincredible impact.
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I think you need to start with
creating those links - that
sense of knowing who is actually
in the sector, knowing whos in
the industry, whos up for the
game, whos willing to partner,
whos has the right set of tools
and skills that compliment your
needs.
waar kan ons mekaar se hande
vat om te voorkom dat elkeen sy
eie potjie probeer kook (where
can we join hands so we dont all
just cook our own food)
1.1.3FARMERS
As with poor consumers, farmers are mostly also perceived to be more vulnerable nowthan in the past. The impression about farming amongst many is that it takes years of hard
work for very little return, and relies on generations of knowledge and capital to make
farming successful.
HARD WORK AND NO MONEY LESS FARMING HAPPENING
The declining numbers of farmers is a
serious worry to some interviewees
Commercial farmers have come
down over the past 15 years from
60 000 to 37 000 and 20%
produce 80% of the food.
At some point pre-1996 we had
about 30,000 dairy farmers now
there are 3000 because the price
they get for their output is not
right. Most have left the industry
or substituted dairy for game
farming. Land under cultivationhas gone down.
In 1994 we had 60,000
commercial farming units, now
we have 45,000 driven by
economies of scale and
increasing capital
intensity. Farmers are under
significant pressure, so even if
these well resourced producers
cannot make it, how can weexpect small producers to make
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it?
Along with its implications for agricultures
contribution to the economy
In the past agriculture was 4% of
GDP now its down to 2.9% and it
will decline more.
There is just maintenance
investment. There has been no
growth in 8 9 years. The trends
are that we import more eachyear, even though we are still a
net exporter. But exports are
growing more slowly than
imports. It is not a catastrophe -
yet.
Some noted how farmers were trying to
respond
Many farmers are export
oriented, not making much profit,
struggling because input costs
are so high. Land is lying fallow,
water is a problem, there is not
enough planning were notproactive enough.
Most farmers are now directly
moving to trading with retailers.
And one made a surprising suggestion If we could grow our own, the
farmers would be under less
pressure. One farmer said to me,
if you ran a hug-a-farmer
campaign, you would do more
good than all these other efforts.
Farmers feel unsupported,
frightened, its a bad place to
be. Farmers wouldnt then chase
volume and prices, and farm
properly.
Meanwhile older patterns continue todrive a lack of interest in agricultureamong the younger black population
who many are hoping will step in
Youth dont have an interest inagriculture because theeducation system has projected
agriculture as a career for
people without ambition.
The youngest people in our
village who are farming are 40ish,
if anyone younger is going to a
farm theyve been pushed. A lot
of people of my age are less
interested. We need to addressthis.
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THE MISSING MIDDLE THE NEED FOR MORE DIVERSITY IN PRODUCTION
South Africans involved in food production often work at opposite ends of the agricultural
scale: commercial farming at one end and subsistence farming at the other. Donor
subsidized subsistence farming overlaps with the food gardening mentioned in the
consumer section. The interviews reflected a number of comments and suggestions to
encourage different scales of agriculture.
Interviewees shared that there are
opportunities to diversify the scale and
type of agriculture and increase the
proportion of South Africans involved in
producing food.
We must support subsistence
farming AND commercial
farming, as they both contribute
to food security.
Smaller-scale livelihood farming is an
important area of innovation.
My core issue, is that.. small scale
micro farming in the rural and
urban context is one of the
fundamental cornerstones of a
food security strategy, and ifthats not there its not a real
Food Security strategy, its not
human.
A few (have) grown their
subsistence farming into large
enterprises if you go to
Lichtenburg, you will see on the
two sides of the road the two
sides of South African agriculture:
white green fields, etc. On
the other side, youll see lots that
under-utilised but also pockets of
large farms that the villagers
themselves decided to farm
together.
(Communities) think sendingproduce to the market is rocketscience, only when we talk to
them, do they realize that its not.
They dont understand how price
changes work.
Currently 50-60 out of 3000 that
we work with are livelihood
farmers, of 3000, we can
generate a few hundred in the
livelihood level, but thesubsistence level itself doesnt
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have to be denigrated.
More recently, significant effort by
government and others has been
invested in food gardening projects.
Interviewees agree that they cannot
compensate for declines in commercial
agriculture.
Since food security is an
outcome, food gardens arent
enough if a commercial farmer
is not producing enough his
workers arent earning enough, if
the commercial farmer is not
producing, there will be no food,
period.
Our work suggests that the policy
response to focus on small
production models or self-
sufficiency doesnt work. The
starter pack approach during
the 2008 crisis is nonsense the
most marginalized are not in a
position to farm.
Not enough is known about the spread of
different scales of farming across rural,urban and peri-urban landscapes.
In terms of policy .. we see a
missing middle. The Departmentof Agriculture supports large
commercial farmers and the
Department of Land Affairs
supports land claimants who
struggle to farm but there are a
large number of small farmers,
about 120,000, especially in peri-
urban areas that fall between
these two groups and who dont
receive support, especially since
the collapse of extension services
(particularly in former
homelands).
Farming ability is also a product of inter-
generational knowledge, and making it a
sustainable option is a lengthy process.
A lot of small-scale farmers
were left with the land, they
dont know how to work with the
finance side, or how to plant, butthey really want to becomefarmers You dont start farming
from tomorrow theres a lot of
stuff around it iIf you want to
get land and get rich youre
making a mistake.
There are different understandings of
smaller-scale farming, so there is a risk
that focused effort could be difficult.
People talk about it but confuse it
with commercial. Its semi-
commercial, but its based on
the subsistence lifestyle, this is theversion of land based livelihood,
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50% subsistence, 50%
commercial, plenty of money
and an abundance of food.
The racial profile of commercial farmers
remains skewed. Many interviewees
expressed an opinion about issues of
legacy and change, and they continue
to evoke powerful emotions.
If you understand..our.. story after
the discovery of mining it was
based on destroying black
peoples independent economic
survival and farming skills and
when we are doing our landrestitution programmes we are
not taking that into account it
is equivalent to recreating a
peasantry that was destroyed
over a period of a hundred years.
And we need more access to
markets especially for small
farmers because its very difficult
for them, because we are sitting
with very mature markets.
As an emerging farmer, my level
of farm management is low.., so I
default on the loan I got to buy
the land from the white farmer,
so the land is repossessed and it
ends up being sold back to the
white farmer, and all thats
happened is the government has
spent some money.
I think that the agricultural policy
of the state has not resulted in
the kind of change that was
hoped for . bringing in new
players along the value chain, its
not that the state has not done
anything but ..it leaves the
individual players to negotiate ontheir own.
NAFU and Agriculture SA are
talking, but no one is representing
small black farmers.
There are mixed messages in agriculture
about cooperatives as a form of
increasing efficiencies of scale.
The problem is that agriculture
needs scale, which is why
cooperatives work. But
cooperatives are a form of
collusion. There is a provision..that collusion is ok if it benefits
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the industry as a whole.
THE ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE
Enterprise Development is a business
imperative for some. In the food security
domain, enterprise development was
most mentioned in the form of emerging
farmers (supply side).
Where is the supply is coming
from? Growing the emerging
farmer base is important. No one
has figured this out. Due to lack
of incentives, resources, skills etc.
One retailer made a particular point
about growing the emerging farmer-
base.
Your psyche in the emerging
market community is youve got
to be part of that community,
you need to support that
community: so its employment.
We often buy off local farmers.
And others see it as an opportunity to
give back.
So enterprise development has
been another very interesting
space and thats been about
where as a business can we
impact on small enterprises that isaligned to our business and
benefits our businesses at the
same time can benefit
communities.
But theres a sense that money is not
being well spent.
Theres lots of capital flying
around but it is all not being
pulled together efficiently at the
moment, were really wracking
our brains trying very hard to look
at a substantial program to work
with emerging farmers.
Some interviewees felt strongly that it was
not the way to go to address food
security.
Enterprise development is
incompatible with the notion of
low-cost production. We need to
be careful that we dont put
too much into one initiative andovercomplicate things. Thisnormally creates a
middlemanthey frequently
dont pay suppliers on time...
they add a mark up. A micro
miller cant produce in the same
way as a Tiger Brands can.
A few business players mentioned the
need to partner, including with public
sector agencies and to have the latterfocus on this issue.
Just think of the potential if we
partnered with other
organizations. The critical thing inthat space is the Development
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Bank or other partner work with
you.. they provide .. funds that
we dont havefor setup and
startupaccess to the
community, local municipalities,
local NGOs who can actually
make these things happen on
the ground and then .. the
resource to actually put
somebody in place to make ithappen.
Getting emerging farmers going
needs to be on the scorecard for
Provincial Premiers, how many
there are, what value they
create at the moment there is
no accountability for results.
A retailer highlights the limitations of
supporting small-scale farmers.
Many of us have found in
enterprise development, we
dont have the skills to helppeople. Were retailers, and are
not farmers or manufacturers.
There are many lessons to be learned
when engaging in enterprise
development from a community
engagement point of view.
The other thing is actually
understanding how communities
work. because there are so
many cooks... There are the
community councilors, the local
municipalities, a local
Department of Agriculture or who
have a vested interest ..thats got
to clash.
One of the biggest lessons is
social mobilisation you cannot
move into a big community and
go and do things and walk away,
theres a process involved mobilise them, get theirperspective, know their culture
and rituals.
A number of interviewees spoke about
the failure of land reform and the lack of
post-settlement plans, and how this
failure has destroyed new agricultural
enterprises.
.A poor community moves in
with no skills, or knowledge ..
dont invest in making the land
more productive and you find
them squabbling because their
expectations are not met,
disagreeing about what to do(for example some of them
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harvesting mangos and selling
them direct to the public). The
land has gone to a community
and not a family: there are
different agendas.
A focus on farming alone is not enough,
there also needs to be a focus on
enterprise development up the supply
chain.
To make it work you need to not
only think about making the
farmers farm, but also about
distribution and support measuresbecause if they dont have that
they will farm but they wont
have the income.
One of the things weve seen is
were trying to treat the
emerging farmers as if they are
businesses rather than farmers or
growerswere find theyre not
business people, theyre farmers
and sometimes their farming skills
are also quite inadequate.
A retailer spoke of what it will take to
support local suppliers.
That local supply hasnt got the
volume and they are not
sophisticated enough to supply
our supply chain anyway.
Theres such a high standard to
enter into that market that the
hurdle is quite high. So I want to
..make it easier for them to get
into (us).
It will take time to change
agriculture. We need to build
skills. Its a combination of small
margins, hard work and science.
And there are still no guarantees. We think we can take people like
me from the urban areas, turnthem quickly into farmingentrepreneurs and theyll make it.
That story for me, has not worked.
1.1.3FARM WORKERS
Farm workers are seen as those with least
opportunities and prospects.
On the farms people are earning
income but there is no skills
transfer going on generations ofpeople are growing up without
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skills.
When I see a farm worker being
a farm worker is unlucky, you
couldnt be anything else.
And while some try to make a difference,
their efforts dont reap much reward.
We have a commitment,
fundamentally to what we
believe we owe the country, to
support the development of atransformed food supply chain
but were getting stuck with all
the issues in that sector.
We found that this (initiative) was
being driven by retailers seeking
to launder their supply chain, but
the costs and risks of these
private regulations were borne
by the producers and in the end
the farm workers didnt benefit
much due to a resulting increasein casualisation. The trade
unionists werent able to
understand these complexities.
And significant immigration issues linger in
the background.
Illegal labour is a big problem. 4-7
million people are here illegally,
and farmers employ them. We
need to take a regional
approach to this. Its especially
happening with seasonal fruit
picking.
1.1.6INPUT PROVIDERS
There was reference to a lot of key inputs as factors, which influence food security.
Although accessibility of some inputs was mentioned, the major issue was rising costs. We
didnt speak to suppliers, so the views expressed here come from people further up thechain who feel the impact of its use, one way or another.
FERTILISER
Where it was mentioned, fertilizer was
seen as a significant problem from a
price perspective across the region.
We cant have inexpensive
fertiliser here, despite the fact we
make it here.
Fertiliser we realized that there
was a cartel for maize farmers:fertilisers are a major input cost
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per hectare around 60 70%.
Or from a use perspective We actually make enough
fertilizer in this country but were
importing 60% of demand -
people are using massive
amounts
There is a huge risk of over
fertilising and ruining our soil.
Or from a logistical perspective Half of all fertiliser in Africa is for
free and the large majority of
farmers are basically organic
because they are not accessing
that fertilizer because to get a
bag of fertilizer to a farmer in
Africa is harder than anywhere
else.
And one lone voice raised a concern
about rock phosphate,that no one is
paying attention to
There is a rock phosphate
shortage in the world and no
agriculture without it. Its anotherhidden resource only China is
concerned about rock
phosphate it is hanging on to its
own and mining it elsewhere.
Africa is running the deposits
down.. the only people who
have studied it and know why it is
the key to Food Security are the
Chinese. And Africa just exports it.
They dont think it has a value its
just given away.
SEED
None of the seed companies were
interviewed, yet the issue of seed, and
the impact of GMOs came up
One of the issues which we dont
deal with but I think is major, is
supply of seed.GM is a reality South Africa produces about 60%
GM maize, which is not an issue;
you wont grow horns from it.
And some see benefits In South Africa GM has helped,
we produce 3 tons per hector
compared to Zimbabwe which
has the potential to produce 10
tons per hector or Tanzania
which is the most fertile place in
the world.
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(re. GM seed) Older people are
interested in the quality they see
from buying the new seed, in
terms of the size of the product
and the resistance to a number
of diseases.
But others dont think it offers any
improvements
if you want Food Security among
the peasant farming movement,
they cant be reliant ongenetically modified or
hybridised seeds, which
degenerate, cant be safe,
theres plenty of open pollinated
seed that does the same job,
produces maybe a bit less but
the quality is so superior.
While there are concerns about who is in
control of seed
If I havent got my seed I cant
sow ask the farmer if he doesnt
want to pay that price for the
seed, what are his options?
In the 80s and 90s, there were
many new hybrids locally
researched. Not anymore, now it
is the big multinationals like
Monsanto, which is risky as we
only account for 1% of their
business globally.
TRANSPORT
The price of transport was an issue for a
few players across the chain, citing the
shift from rail to road as a factor.
Transporting stuff out of the silos
has also got very expensive 90%
of grain was moved by rails in
early 1990s, and now its mostly
road which is 30% more
expensive and it destroys theroads.
But some see problems with a return to
rail
Rail has the pilferage problem
its the cheapest mode of
transport but we cant use it
because not a lot of your
produce will see the other side.
Breakagethey steal from our
own trucks while theyre traveling
up. Its not big.
Rail will never work, people want
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to own part of it, they can do
that with trucks, not rail. We
wont go for that.
While acknowledging the difficulties and
costs of using roads
Road infrastructure were not
only talking Africa (also in South
Africa). If you just take the road
between Bloemfontein and
Gaborone, a truck can break an
axle on it.
And calling on the government to
reconsider its policy on fuel.
If you are only looking at the fuel
levies transport is making a
huge part 90% of the consumers
basket, the government is taking
a lot of money from this sector via
levies. That is adding up to an
inefficiency in terms of the sector.
WATER
For some the water issue is becoming
urgent and is part of the impetus for
moving into new parts of Africa
In Mpumalanga, the coal-mines
are contaminating major
agricultural land and rivers. ..Its
going into the food. Quality of
water is a problem more than
quantity. Agriculture uses 60% of
water.The South East and
Western Cape are running out of
water and with climate change
will become even drier. Weve
been saved by the Lesotho
Highlands Water Scheme. How
can we bring the Zambezi south?
Time is critical.
We are going to have a massive
water supply problem in this
country in the next three to fiveyears time... So we have tounlock that potential in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
Others see different actions required. If you are going to label
anything, label water. This is far
more of a crisis. There are wine
farmers planting bamboo for
carbon labeling, when these
plants attract rats, suck up water.
Waste for example, is a massive
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problem (in polluting). Packaging
needs to reduce for water supply.
LAND
Some expressed an overall sense that
there is less to go around.
Im making people aware of the
statistics about loss of productive
land.
A set of drivers contributes to land risk. If we are at risk of our land 1. In
bad soil management 2.
Increasingly in foreign hands, and
3. That land reform processes are
not supporting emerging farmers,
then we really are creating a
crisis. The writing is on the wall.
Government is clearly trying to do
something, but with unintended
consequences.
There are huge problems. The
government has spent R30 billion,
and they paid overinflated prices
for land and now cant afford todeliver.
And a lack of clarity about the situation. We need to do a land reform
audit who owns what.
Some are taking clear action so that their
needs are met.
Youve got to keep them
(government) on side because
there are a lot of farms and there
are a lot of claims on land. I think
if you come to them and make
them look good. They perhaps
make the land available, you
cant do it without land. I think
thats the critical part.
Although others dont see it as being a
problem
No: school land, municipal land,
marginal land, it (small scale
farming) doesnt need land youneed to own yourself.
ENERGY
The demands of the modern cold chain
have brought the cost of energy usage
into sharp relief
Energy is going to be a huge
issue for cold storage dependent
businesses.
The cost is becoming prohibitive,
in the old days farmers didnt usea lot of electricity planted
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cabbage, put in a truck, take to
market now weve got cold
chain and its got to be washed
and chilled all of a sudden
these extra costs in the chain.
But some dont see it as a place with
collaboration potential because of
competitiveness issues.
Just look at energy efficiencies.
Clearly our retailers need to
manage energy better with
increasing costs. However, we willnever collaborate there.
1.1.7 GOVERNMENT
What is the role of government in securing food? This role is changing, Moreover, many
civil society and corporate players express ambivalence about governments role.
Should it, for example, provide more regulation to the food industry or less? This confusion
and ambivalence tends to harden the polarity for example, between commercial and
small farming.
There is a sense among some
interviewees that the state has let go
of its responsibility. The introduction of
the Rural Development Department has
increased, rather than addressed,
confusion about roles and about the
connection between those roles
I dont think we have a common
voice/purpose/mission as the
government institutions whether it
be govt funding institutions or the
government regulatory institutions
and ourselves, we do talk but
theres nothing that has forced us
to see each others impact.
No one is taking decisions in the
Department of Agriculture.
Everyone is scared with the new
restructuring and the dynamics in
the ANC. Certain systems are
working, and others arent.
And the government needs to balance
different imperatives.
Theres always a tension between
industrial policy and competitionpolicy from an IP perspectivewell want to support the entrance
of (emerging farmers/agents etc)
going forward for them to have
sufficient economies of scale we
may have to allow them to act
anti-competitively.
A retailer highlighted that there are
some positive and mutually beneficial
relationships.
Government in various forms: DTI,
BEE commission are continuously
working with us .trying to assist usin any way to really improve our
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ability to make a difference in
terms of transformation.
Next month weve got an exciting
meeting with senior officials of
government around what their
idea of a well-managed farm
would look like.
At the same time, some intervieweesreport real frustration about accessing
their partners in government
departments.
We dont get to the rightstakeholders in government, we
dont know who they are, we
dont have the resources to invest
in building those relationships.
The new government departments
of rural development and land
reform are not coming to the
party. When are we going to get
an audience?
Maize forum has summits,government does not pitch or they
send a junior guy who cant make
any decisions.
We are part of a ministerial task
team that developed a strategic
plan for agriculture together with
NAFU and business. There is still
a ministerial task team but we
havent met, and how are we
going to engage on this plan?
The quality of communication matters
to many players in the field.
There is a lack of trust between
agriculture and the government.
Farmers decide its better to focus
on the export market than to focus
on the local market.
There is also a view that its moreeffective to create a conducive
environment to talk and work together.
We need a more engagingenvironment. If government wants
to ensure citizens dont get a raw
deal, then government needs to
engage with the industry players.
You are not going to achieve
anything by investigation and
talking about it in the press.
The Competition Commission has
created a lot of fear. People arereluctant to talk to each other. Its
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a costly exercise for us, we need
lawyers present at all of our
meetings. This stifles creativity and
innovation.
While there are complaints about
declining investment in infrastructure or
a lack of extension services there is
also a plea for a better funded, more
integrated and aligned governmentapproach.
The Department of Agriculture
(food security) is trans-disciplinary
but other politicians dont see that,
so we are relegated to doing food
gardens.
Government is not investing
adequately in agriculture in
general big or small.
Including a return to subsidies We are concerned that there
doesnt seem to be as much
support for agriculture as there
once was. There used to be more
generalist subsidies.
A lot of white farmers wereestablished by subsidies that were
provided by the Nationalist
government, thats what the
government needs to do.
I would like to see lots more money
flowing from government to
farmers in form of subsidies. Some
kind of revolving funding for
conversion. More extension
services for farmers, and
enforcement. A ton of green
scorpions making sure the
practices are changing.
There were a few comments about the
need for a more systemic overview to
be held by government.
We didnt have an agency that
was about having a systemic view
about this economy, the PlanningCommission, the EconomicDevelopment ministry are new
opportunities.
The National Planning Commission
needs to manage this problem
from the top, as there are so many
interconnected issues to address.
There are strong opinions about what
government should do, especially onthe subject of regulation.
Government needs to create an
enabling environment, regulatethe sector and provide
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infrastructure.
Until you raise the benchmark with
better regulatory standards, you
are going to continue to get
people who distribute food, which
they shouldnt be distributing.
Either regulate everything or
nothing; you cant regulate halfthe distribution chain and not the
other half.
There is cause for judicious state
regulation. Private regulation isnt
really working the effective
implementation of existing
national legislation would
probably go further.
There is a need to investigate collusion
across the supply chain, and not onlywithin sectors.
I think the inquiries of the
Competition Commission are illadvised, because they need to
.look at a particular product in
whole supply chain.
New legislation is positive, but capacity
to implement is a problem.
The Consumer Protection Act is an
act which is advancing consumer
rights... I think its a beautiful piece
of legislation.... The government
would prefer the industry to self-
regulate on this issue. They will form
a consumer commission where
consumers can complain.
But..would not have the capacity
to take care of this.
We have some of the best food
laws in the world, but our capacity
to regulate is limited.
For one, this comes down to
Government leaving the sector to it
Government sees us as a sector
that looks after itself.
1.1.8 ACADEMIA
Voices from different parts of the system
wanted a reversal of the trend of
declining investment in research related
to food, and agriculture in particular.
Food is a sensitive issue and is
often political, it needs to be
driven more by academic
research.If I were minister of agriculture I
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would put more focus on
research.
Im worried about (the lack of)
science and research and
bringing in new technology.
Some acknowledged that deregulation
has led to under- or skewed investment.
Theres been an accumulation of
skill and knowledge through the
years, and then the researchsupport through the infrastructure
but that has been curtailed
because you thought that with
deregulation that things like R and
D would be done by the firms and
thats not happening.
Although one or two noted that
academics and business dont always
communicate enough
the rift between agricultural
people and NGOs
/academics.the gulf that exists is
not because there isnt
transparency, but there isntcommunication Academics like to
do the research and dont
engage with business.
And that research has been used in
unhelpful ways at times.
Everyone uses his or her own
backyard researchers. You are not
entitled to your own facts, but you
are entitled to your own opinion.
Others focused more on their own
organizational needs for research
support
Wed need a good academic-
oriented R and D teams to
document everything (about this
process), like put it into a full
curriculum. We need to have
academic and scientific peer
review then people will start to
take it (this project) seriously.
We should use university studentsmore, to do research on questions
around Food Security we
(business) are not geared to (or
rewarded by shareholders for)
doing research.
Its clear that, with such a broad range of players who contribute in some way to food
security, collaboration and collective action will require significant effort. The interests
vary, and the perspectives are often at opposite ends of the spectrum. The positiveimpulse is that everyone without fail has recognized that food insecurity is on the rise in
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Southern Africa, and that each player has a role to play in reversing this trend.
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1.2. THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM, STRAINED AND STRETCHED
Those who considered the system as a whole, noticed significant imbalances. They
commented on the consumers and farmers sitting towards the ends of the chain, were
least powerful overall and price takers relative to the concentrated business sectors in
the system. There were also concerns about the social, economic and environmental
implications of deregulation and current patterns of economic activity and planning.
The system that works well is designed to
meet middle class needs.
When you work with big
businesses, they have growing
plans of 3 to 5 years. that feeds the
average Mrs. Constantia, Mrs.
Benmore and thats whathappens.
The dynamic we havent grasped
is the divide between the formal
and the informal.
A few felt that the process of
deregulation undertaken a decade ago
was not well thought through and we are
paying the price for that now.
I think for the first 10 years of this
economy we were obsessed with
following global rules. (about
deregulation/subsidies etc.)
Of course, in the last 10 years, the
food market has undergonetremendous change and most of it
was market led the government
just said, leave it to the markets.
But I think there have been certainthings that could have been
handled better.
The take away for me in food (and
telecoms) is that unless you have a
strong regulator the outcomes that
you are looking for, may not
necessarily emerge. Weve
replaced a government monopoly
with an oligopoly as have with
telecoms. Im feeling that we hadblind faith and we didnt do our
homework and understand the
nature of the agricultural markets
before we deregulated. But after
deregulation there was not
enough supervision, regulation,
enough facilitative role of the state
to improve food security and to
create a fairly egalitarian society.
Deregulation went ahead in an adhoc manner without food security
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considerations.
Since deregulation, more power has
concentrated with large players in the
chain.
The bigger players have replaced
government as the regulator in the
way that they utilise their power.
And there is insufficient competition to
make that work well.
The concept of competition is not
working. We need to create more
competition.
On the consumption end Because there are 4 retailers,
people dont have much of a
choice.
For a population of 45m people
we only have one (dedicated)
national fruit and vegetable
retailer that only happens in this
country, we must have more
retailers we need more
competent businessmen, there is
no competition at all.
On the distribution, some of
retailers are making a huge
amount of money.
(In Khayelitsha) The philosophy (of
a retailer) was to hoover the
money out of the townships.
And the production end We know on the input side that the
market is highly concentrated,
whether youre talking about seed
or about fertiliser Monsanto and
a few others control seed.
This leaves the farmers in a relatively
weak position.
A lot of the big farms, big volume
market. Its all controlled by big
business. Theyve got their bigfarmers that are farming for them.Fruit and Veg City maybe buy off
the market. The farmers have got
to go and plan that works to their
needs.
Without a strong facilitator local
government or some state agent,
an individual farmer doesnt have
negotiating power vis a vis a
Woolworths for example, and foodis going through those chains.
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weak relative to retailers.
We are sitting on a time bomb
where 4-5m people are subsidizing
all the rest, we are creating a
community that is living off social
grants because there are no
opportunities. People want jobs
but theres nowhere to look.
The consumer is quiet. Research
shows that the label came first
(when retailers think about
improving standards) and the
consumer came after.
And the dependency on big business
value chains impacts poor communities.
The people who are living in
townships or who live in the more
rural (areas). Im not sure that
theres a self-sufficiency culture
there. I think they are too
dependent on the value chains ofbig business.
Rural. If you dont have a supply chain of
food that is locally driven it leaks
out of the communities back to
the formal sector or to formal retail
theyve moved big time to the
townships and rural communities
are worse off because they have
to use that money to travel to
town and buy food but if you
were to promote local production
they could use that money there.
The retailers contributed to the de-
agrarianisation of these areas as
they were able to provide
products for cheap without the riskassociated with production, due toeconomies of scale, etcThey
also generally did not source many
products locally. This process had
pros and cons. It was beneficial for
pensioners, due to access to
cheaper products, but bad for the
local economy, due to demise of
local production and rents being
exported.
and urban Ironically the rural market eats
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more sustainably. Its much more in
the urban environment.
Theres going to be all kinds of
threats .oil peak, rising oil prices,
water resources, nutrient flows,
food supplies, basic materials etc,
and so their argument is this is
becoming a really major issue is
the kind of resource flows intocities..I cant really see a future
for cities if they are dependent on
long distance value chains the
future of cities is going to be more
and more dependent on urban
agriculture.
While government policy and focus
reflect the divides.
Most often rural areas are not seen
as a site of development in and of
itself but as a supplier of food to
the urban areas, so ..were just
extracting the rents from the ruralareas to support very big urban
populations and we dont have a
model of developing the rural
areas.
Theyre (Department of Rural
Development) still seeing
development as agriculturally
based why not set up processing
plants, why not look at the
economy around it if they can
grasp that concept it will take off. I
dont think they do right now.
The country consists of
Johannesburg and the ports: that
[perception is] the problem and if
you are looking at the DTI theyvesunk a lot of money basicallyreinforcing that pattern.
The Department of Agricultures
role with the commercial sector
its about permits, collecting
information, creating reports,
transport etc. Subsistence and
smallholder farmers are at the
forefront for Department of
Agriculture that reflects thedualistic nature of the sector.
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1.3 THE CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM, SEEDS OF CHANGE
Within the food security system in Southern Africa, interviewees highlighted a number of
innovative solutions already up and running to help reduce food insecurity outside of their
normal business practice. There is a sense from many that if some of these ideas were
shared or brought to scale, the problem could be more significantly addressed.
Economic Development Initiative
successes linking farmers to supply chains
Weve had some success in the
KZN area, with supporting a co-opof women farmers, amadumbies
in the Beaufort West areas
hydroponics growing of herbs and
spinach, getting emerging farmers
into our supply chain.
Post-settlement support project in
the Brits area is working... Theyhave started giving loans to 12-15
farmers of R400 000, and that
amount has moved to R90million,
involving thousands of farmers.
Wool farmers are doing well to
establish black commercial
farmers.
There are attempts, for example in
the Eastern Cape ASGISA EC,trying to support local farmers,
even vineyards in the Western
Cape, there are some successes.
And so Ive seen some of those in
maize farming, sunflower..theres
also some success with
Motswenyane) whos supplying
Pick n Pay with oranges for their
juice ..
Would I consider the Paprika storya success story? Yes, its surviveda year, it has successfully
produced 68 days of paprika for
us. Its provided employment for
218 people in a community that
didnt have much employment at
all.
Commercial farmers willing to help In the areas where weve got
involved there is huge willingness
to help (from commercial farmers)but its uncoordinated. ..we had
a wonderful experience in
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Limpopo expecting farmers to be
locked in their ways and them
really coming forward. Farmers
want to help, but want to know
how.
Knowledge bases for market linkages We have the market economic
research centre we have a
specific focus area on linking
farmers to markets, theres a lot ofresearch done.
And for improving soil Soil quality is not a problem
weve got the technical solutions
I can turn a wasteland into a lush
little garden weve got
technology, knowledge, doing it
cheaply, its all there.
Some places where interviewees felt
work with small farmers was paying off.
Muyexe, Limpopo. We are seeing
communities planting. In the
Eastern Cape they haveSiyazondla household garden
programme... Jacobsdaal in the
Free State has veggie tunnels. Its
small but its happening. A lot
has happened in the last 2 years.
The farmers themselves also with
some professional support run the
pack shed, run the whole
operation. We employ some of
the farmers as field workers and
trainers to run the system, so in
effect were a voluntary co-
operative, weve created our own
market at mostly school
communities.
There are already pockets aroundPort St Johns where people arerunning livelihood level farms, and
cash, because they are smart
enough to have taken on the
discipline of commercial mixed in
with subsistence, you dont need
new land for that.
People and places where more
environmentally sustainable possibilities
are being explored successfully.
ZZ2 is a good example of a
company that has the intellectual
and financial resources to gobeyond retarded collapse to
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restoration restoring the means
to sustain their own business but
an ecosystem when you restore it,
it goes beyond the boundaries.
ETH Swiss university is already
manufacturing fertilizer from
sewage exporting it
transforming urine thats where
the nutrients are not in the feces.
Weve got potato project in the
Sandveld. Its funded by Potatoes
SA, they are trying to implement
better farming practices, so now
they are having first crop
sustainable potatoes farmers
have voluntarily done. The
irrigation of potatoes is enormous,
and influenced the fresh water
supply in local communities.
Retailers are already working in some of
the areas they identified as having
potential food safety, quality and
packaging.
We have a food safety initiative.
We collaborate around how to
make things easier for all our
members to benefit. For example,
we are starting a project where
we create a big database to
audit/test the food.
We now have a new strategy
called market of the future
following industry trends globally
to improve food quality and safety
and to improve the environment
at our premises.
For our packaging we have a
partnership with NAMPAK
recyclers are formally employedto collect and take it to theirfacility on the premises where they
collect each day. ..1% of our
produce goes to waste.
And some businesses are picking
up on the international trend
towards local food.
We have a strong focus in the
foods area to do more regional
sourcing. The model with one
supplier, and distribute all around
the country, were beginning to
say thats not the most efficient,but thats in its infancy, the
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regionalization of supply.
We are driving a local sustainable
sourcing thing, probably more
from a B.E.E. perspective than
from a food security perspective.
And finally some innovation at the
distribution end
We are trying to develop a project
to deliver hampers to corporate
employees to support a healthy
lifestyle 5 a day.
Warwick Junction amazing
creating initiative, under threat, by
the Durban city, to build an
infrastructure in middle of the city
to sell food to people next to
the station now they want to puta mall up yet where it is whatmakes it interesting the city and
local operators who have
collaborated to make it happen
sourcing food on daily basis to
feed the working class! Where is
that food coming from?
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2. THE WAY FORWARD
When looking into the future, interviewees expressed different approaches to changing
the system of food security. There were proposals that involvede changing paradigms
radically rethinking how the system could and should operate and others that tinkered
with the existing reality to a greater or lesser extent. Some people tended more to onecamp or the other, and some spoke of both.
The purpose of highlighting these two paths is not to choose either/or when deciding what
to focus on, but rather to recognize that they exist strongly as possibilities for people in the
food security system, and need to be worked with at the same time across the initiatives
participants of the future change lab would want to pioneer.
2.1 PLACES AND SPACES OF POSSIBILITY
Many interviewees talked about places that they thought were interesting to consider forfuture action to support better food security.
Some interviewees wanted to see a
more deliberative and interactive
relationship between research and
practice.
Maybe we need to commission
some masters and PhD students to
put together great big operations
research, modeling of alternatives
triple bottom line.
What we can do is to aggregate
the knowledge were getting
back to the relevant departmentsfor example, what happened with
the fisheries policy.
.. including academics and
private sectors, people who run
the wholesale markets, who have
a sense of procurement and flows,
and also have in the room the
ecologists, people who have a
sense of soils and ecosystem
services and environment andstitch together understanding of
existing flows, what are
alternatives, what are the
intervention points.
Including spreading models through
academic institutions.
It (model of livelihood farming)
could almost be franchised, it
needs a bit more academic level
support to break it into bits and set
it up so it can be like a tick box
system do that, that will happen,so it could be picked up like that
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and replicated in cities all around
SA, from an urban point of view,
wherever there are people with
money to buy fresh natural grown
vegetables, therell be the
potential to set up the whole
system including the marketing
end in the urban areas.
Improved collaboration is necessary anddesirable and some feel strongly that this
needs to be defined carefully in terms of
specific issue areas and opportunities.
Not long ago, government waslooking at opening government
shops. Rather lets do something
jointly and utilize existing
infrastructure, its a better use or
resources.
We know what a basket looks like
for poor people. Lets take some
stuff out, and put it to a tender
process. What is government
maize? Im not sure what the
mechanism is. All the retailershave it, and in areas where there
is maximum food insecurity, lets
price these together. We need to
achieve scale by giving one or 2
manufacturers an opportunity to
reach massive scale. We need a
3rdparty like government to
allocate the tender.
Improving payment conditions for
enterprise development
There are other ways we can help
in transformation. The easiest way
for retailers is better terms for black
suppliers. They battle with cash
flow. So pay them on invoice,
which is not a difficult thing to do.
Its far more helpful in terms of
transforming the economy.
Packaging came up a few times, andthere are clear ideas which reduce price
of packaging, and ultimately the food.
This is a lever in the supply chainwhere we can cut costs. There are
cheaper alternatives. That is in
everyones interests. Its in the
environmentalists interests, its in
the retailers interests better
logistics, its in the consumers
interests because they are getting
a cheaper price.
A drive to improve nutrition and labeling. We want to improve healthbenefits. Move away from cheap
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and nasty additives.This is a
place we could make an impact.
This will be an impact on private
labels we create which have less
packaging, are healthier, and
where thats evident to people
because of labeling.
New food baskets focusing on a
particular group of foods in a particulararea.
The whole idea is that you cant
eat pap alone you need toidentify within the locale what can
be eaten with it so that pap
consumption can keep going up.
We need to think about what
could be the selling point for them
(industry players), the most
interesting areas.
In coastal areas there could be a
project around snoek engage
the wheat people they need to
eat fish and bread together butthey also need fruit and greens
there can be some way of adding
things for a nutritious food basket
and to increase understanding.
Bringing urban agriculture and rural
processing solutions more to the fore for
regionally based food systems.
The model of the last 200 years is
under strain based on
centralised production in certain
areas moving goods over long
distances I think we need to
experiment with urban food
gardens, and thats not something
I think is on anyones agenda.
We need to elevate urban
agriculture to a higher status
shorten the supply chain. The
status is that urban people dontwant to eat out of their garden.We need to get to a point where
your status is not defined by car in
the driveway, but NO car in the
driveway.
Creating economic development in rural
areas.
How can we develop the rural
areas as viable economic entities
and not just as suppliers of raw
materials and putting some low
scale processing there as well?
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A couple of suggestions focused on the
need to reconsider co-operative
approaches to increase the bargaining
power of farmers.
They are looking at other
agricultural initiatives in the Eastern
Cape as well so that they would
be part of many, theyre looking
at co-operative parties theyre
very reliant on corporates to help
them with this. They very much on
the mindset that you cant just go
and grow paprika, you actually
need your market first.
Farmers can sell together and buy
some inputs together.
As well as creating alternative supply
chains to support them
The Food Bank could help create
some co-ordination for example,
take 5 farms, and look at what
could be done to collaborate to
make things happen on a larger
scale.
Theres a way of supporting localfarmers. You buy the product
upfront, and for the rest of the
season, you get that farmers
crop. This system is not going to
supply the retailers. We are trying
to encourage people to shorten
the supply chain. Get to know the
farmer. You are investing directly
and reaping the rewards.
Ideas to make farming more
environmentally sustainably
So ZZ2 should own all the sewage
plants Theres an added income
we cant run it (sewage systems)
from the tax base anymore. They
(should go) into the water and
energy business nutrients out, sell
water back to municipality
closing the loop.
developing sustainable farming
manuals. .Now the food industry
wants to do this. They are to house
all regulation in one sustainable
farm manual. Now we are starting
the same process with the diary
industry.
Finally a few suggestions thought
education was needed, to raiseemerging business awareness of the
To demonstrate that people eat
every day and that this sector iswhere the money is: last year
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opportunities in the sector. people talked about a recession
but we didnt see it here, we had
record sales. We are trying to
make the youth more aware so
that theyll be interested and the
information will trickle down.
To get more people back into farming Where we used to produce food,
we arent any more that goes
back to education, if you putthose people back on those farms
to start producing then thats the
one king pin.
And to doing it well. The technical solutions are not the
problem .actually it comes
down to basic good husbandry its
just reconnecting to that with a
new consciousness.
2.2PARADIGM SHIFT -FOOD ECONOMY/FOOD COMMUNITY
For some, a fundamental change in the way we interact with food seems necessary. For
them we have become too disconnected from how it gets produced and from
understanding the earths resources that enable us to eat. They want to see us eating
different foods, buying food in different ways and going back to basics to produce.
A few interviewees talked about
change needed at the cultural level to
make more significant shifts that they
saw were needed for the food system to
get back on track although they knew
these ideas were not the mainstream.
Their thinking implied changes in the
food economy too.
I think companies embe