Abstract
Access to regional markets by small scale producers remains a problem in Southern Africa, yet retailing is becoming big business. A proliferation of supermarkets has been witnessed since the 1990s with South Africa’s Shoprite supermarket becoming a major player in African markets. Supermarkets play a critical role of food systems development in Southern Africa but theissues of concern pertain to how increased aggregate value can be generated for agricultural produce whilst at the same time retaining more value nationally/locally for smallholder agricultural producers. This paper focuses on small producers, characterising food systems evolution in Southern Africa and highlighting how small producers are relating with supermarkets. Drawing on existing empirical work to examine successful agribusiness initiatives for smallholder farmers in Africa in accessing regional value chains, the paper argues that ineffective regional policies contribute to forces preventing upgrading of smallholder farmers into regional markets. An analysis that synthesises various emerging issues regarding the relations between supermarkets and small producers is presented to inform research themes for uptake into policy formulation.
Highlights
Supermarkets are a central link to ensuring the growth of agricultural produce and food markets as well as ensuring the continued contribution to the livelihoods of small producers in the SADC region
The data presented shows the number of countries where South African supermarkets have been opened.A faster proliferation of supermarkets as experienced from the year 2002 should ideally translate into increased access to markets for small producers in the SADC region
South Africa has notably dominated the production of most agricultural produce in the SADC.In 2009, South African supermarkets accounted for 85% of the share of supermarkets in the SADC region according to calculations presented by Emongor and Kirsten [12]
Summary
Supermarkets are a central link to ensuring the growth of agricultural produce and food markets as well as ensuring the continued contribution to the livelihoods of small producers in the SADC region. The nature of the first link of the agricultural value chain determines the type of markets that small producers can access, whether it will be the traditional markets or modern supermarket chains. The data presented shows the number of countries where South African supermarkets have been opened.A faster proliferation of supermarkets as experienced from the year 2002 should ideally translate into increased access to markets for small producers in the SADC region. Some studies[3], [4], [1] have alluded to the fact that the distribution of income along the value chains is skewed away from benefiting small producers.
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