South African rural smallholder farmers lack market access, affecting food security (unlocking market access potential for rural smallholder farmers to boost food security in South Africa)

This policy brief explores the market access-related challenges that are faced by smallholder farmers in South Africa. Smallholder farmers experience barriers that have serious implications for food security in the country. Over the years, it has been observed that despite food availability, food security remains a perpetual challenge for millions of people who lack access to nutritious food. Nutrition-based challenges, such as obesity (overweight) and undernourishment, are prevalent and this is causing public health problems. Against this reality, the role and value of smallholder farmers cannot be overstated, especially since they produce one-third of the South African food supply. Smallholder farmers often struggle with certain bottlenecks in areas of resourcing, production infrastructure, post-harvest storage facilities, marketing, produce distribution, and technical capacity, which all point to constrained, sustainable and resilient market access. Locally, at national and provincial levels, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) is at the coalface of facilitating food production and supply.