Developing a framework to address the challenges faced by small-scale farmers in South Africa.

Abstract

Food security is a threat globally and small-scale farmers, who include poor and marginalised individuals, struggle to realise profitable yields. The challenges faced by small-scale farmers hinder agricultural development, not only in South Africa but across Africa. There is an ever-intensifying drive to reduce the challenges of small-scale farmers to ensure sustainable food security. The objectives of this research were to define a smallscale farmer in South Africa and apply the definition, to define food security and how small-scale farmers can benefit, to determine how sustainable agricultural practices can benefit small-scale farmers, to explore the challenges of small-scale farmers in South Africa and to construct a conceptual framework to address the challenges. Small-scale farms produce only 5% of the total agricultural output of South Africa, while there are more than 300,000 small-scale farms and a further 2.3 million households engaging in subsistence-oriented agricultural activities. A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study, using a non-random or purposive sampling technique to appropriately select the participants. This was subject to the participants meeting the inclusion criteria which were based on the derived definition of a small-scale farmer. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from 30 participants. The data collected were analysed using the thematic content analysis technique. During the interviews, demographic and farm business information was collected to determine the impact on productivity and food security of small-scale farmers. The findings from the study further identified the challenges of small-scale farmers in South Africa, inter alia, access to information, access to capital, access to markets, access to technology, access to land and land security. Based on the findings, a conceptual framework was developed to aid in mitigating the challenges experienced by small-scale farmers. The framework used environmental and marketing strategies to improve the productivity of small-scale farmers. The research report shows that a framework can specify long-term actions to reduce or eliminate the challenges of small-scale farmers in South Africa, which may increase farm productivity, improve food security and enhance the livelihood of small-scale farmers.