Service Issue 85

S
agriculture
Inclusive agricultural sector
needed to alleviate rural poverty
In South Africa, effective small-scale farming, arguably a means to combat rural poverty, stands as the cornerstone to
establishing new and sustainable agricultural value systems.
By Max Oliva, CEO of The SPAR Group Southern Africa
LLarge commercial farmers dominate the local agricultural and food
system, which limits the participation of smaller producers, creating
a dualistic farming system. Additionally, most major supermarkets
and food manufacturers prefer working with a small number of
larger suppliers who can meet stringent requirements. This leaves
many small rural producers excluded and marginalised since they
cannot meet the quality or consistent volume requirements for large
corporations to consider dealing with them.
Small-scale producers struggle to overcome these limitations,
primarily due to a lack of access to funding, technical and business
support, food safety expertise and compliance as well as the
infrastructure and logistical resources, or capabilities, needed to
enter formal value systems.
Poor farm infrastructure and farm inputs are often the root cause
of inconsistent crop yields and quality. Addressing these intricate
issues necessitates a collaborative approach involving a diverse
range of stakeholders.
these being the corporate sector. The retail industry must play a
central role in helping close gaps in food security and market access.
In The SPAR Group’s own experience, just by including farmers in
a rural hub skills transfer and empowerment concept in 2016, we
are now seeing between 30% to 60% of these farmers’ monthly
output purchased by us and brought to the market (under our
Freshline and Country Value labels) through distribution centres in
key locations. We plan to increase the support from SPAR to 80%
in 2024/25.
While The SPAR Group remains their primary customer, some of
the grade one produce is also sold to aggregators who then on-sell
And this needs to happen now. According to the World Bank, Sub-
Saharan Africa is feeling the brunt of “the perfect storm” – a food,
fuel and fertiliser crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, scarring
effects from the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring inflation, rising debt
and extreme weather.
No priority is more pressing than addressing food insecurity to
safeguard the calorie and nutrition needs of Africa’s one-billion
people and protect their human development. At least one in five
Africans goes to bed hungry and an estimated 140-million people
in Africa face acute food insecurity, according to the “2022 Global
Report on Food Crises 2022 Mid-Year Update”.
As the United Nations astutely observes, climate change does not
respect boundaries, hence African countries and abroad must work
together to build resilience. In South Africa, it is also critical that a
comprehensive church of stakeholders play their role, pivotal among
Max Oliva, CEO, The SPAR Group Southern Africa.
24 | Service magazine