Smallholders and agro-food value chains in South Africa: Emerging practices, emerging challenges

Abstract

A key emerging strand in the development of smallholder agriculture in South Africa is the effort to integrate small-holders into corporate food retail value chains. In this, the private sector and government have a common agenda, which is to build a commercial smallholder class that does not require ongoing financial support for survival, but which is able to stand on its own feet and compete in the market. Both government and the private sector recognise the need for some kind of ‘start-up’ support, and Walmart-Massmart’s recently announced supplier fund will put pressure on other food retailers to deepen their own activities in this regard. The papers in this publication come out of a workshop hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) in Johannesburg in November 2011. The workshop brought together academics, government officials, a few representatives from black smallholder farmers and the private sector, and generated a number of case studies on efforts to integrate smallholders into formal or corporate value chains. A selection of these is included in this publication. They focus on private sector initiatives and raise key issues around who smallholders are and what strategies can be