What SA farmers can learn from Kenya's smallholders

Prof Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha, director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Rhodes University, writes that by embracing digital solutions, like those used by farmers in Kenya, South African small-scale farmers can achieve greater market access and be better prepared to weather disruptions.

- Prof Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha

The reopening of restaurants and the hospitality industry under Level 2 of the COVID-19 national lockdown, as announced recently by President Cyril Ramaphosa, should be good news for small-scale farmers who have seen lockdown measures decimate demand while the pandemic continues to compound the challenges they face. Persistent challenges, such as limited access to markets and finance, and a lack of production, business and networking skills, pale in comparison to complete market standstill, which some farmers, who serve the hospitality industry, have been faced with during the various lockdown levels.

TOURISM SHUTDOWN

While the production, transportation and sale of agricultural goods and food has been deemed an essential service during the entire lockdown period, the decrease or complete collapse of demand from the hospitality and tourism industries had an immediate negative impact on local farmers. With national borders across the African continent closed to tourists, the negative effects have also been most pronounced on smallscale farmers across Africa who rely heavily on the tourism sector and related businesses. These farmers, mostly located along the coastal areas of many African countries, have been disproportionately affected compared to those located in more inland locations, such as maize producers in and around the Rift Valley in Kenya, who serve mainly local consumers through centralised government schemes.