An investigation of quality and compliance of agricultural fresh produce sold in the Tshwane metropolis with the agricultural products standards act of South Africa

Abstract

The Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act 119 of 1990) of South Africa provides for the standardisation of quality norms for agricultural produce (DAFF, 2018). The purpose of this research was to investigate the quality and compliance of fresh produce sold in the Tshwane metropolis with the Agricultural Product Standards Act of South Africa. A cross-sectional study survey was conducted in six regions of Tshwane metropolis, in which 200 fresh produce vendors were randomly selected from various vending sites to analyse their level of knowledge regarding the Act. Furthermore, different fruits and vegetables were sampled from different vending sites and inspected for compliance with the Act.The vast majority (89%) of respondents did not know of the existence of the Act. Quite a small proportion of fruit (51.5 %) and vegetable (56 %) retailers indicated that their agricultural fruit products have been monitored. A large proportion of fruits (from 86% to 99.8%) and vegetables (from 85.4% to 97.5%) met all the various quality requirements. In general a fair proportion of fruits (58%) and vegetables (65%) complied highly with the Act in terms of quality. There was a significant positive correlation between monitoring by officials and the level of compliance. The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries should make sure that farmers and street vendors of agricultural produce register their businesses and are trained on the interpretation of the provisions of the Agricultural Product Standards Act. This will allow them to be tracked and traced for proper development concerning matters related to the Act.