by Mandy Moussouris and Anique van der Vlugt
Historical hurdles - despite centuries of land dispossession, there are still serious challenges accessing land under the current dispensation in South Africa, with limited or no access to a reliable supply of water and other resources, however, there are several micro and small-scale farmers in areas in our communities that are producing quality, nutrient-rich foods.
Production to distribution - whilst getting this far is hard, the next step can be even harder. Once the food has been grown, small-scale farmers then face the challenge of finding markets for their produce and making a living. Some have managed to access niche ‘organic’ markets which tend to be fickle, inconsistent, and demanding. These markets cause inflated prices far above what working-class consumers are able to pay their producer, resulting in good quality food being the preserve of the rich, or rotting because prices can’t be attained, and /or consumers reached.
The conventional food market is impossible to enter let alone compete in, both in relation to the economies of scale, as well as with regards to fair pricing.
Economies of scale are cost savings that occur as a result of increasing production.
Online markets remain the preserve of those with access to technology, and the problem with existing technology is retail-focused not producer/farmer-focused. Retailers dictate how much they buy and if they buy. All of this leaves very little space for small- scale farmers to sell their food produce and make a sustainable income, and very little access for working class people to decent, healthy food.
In order to make the food system sustainable there is an urgent need to return the market to the farmer. To cut out the profiteering middlemen and fill the ever-increasing divison of inequality and access to income and food in south africa
Building local food nodes with technology - it is within this context that technology developed and driven by farmers for farmers to develop local food nodes directly in their communities could go a long way towards addressing the challenges of accessing markets. It also addresses food insecurity and deals with capitalist market inefficiencies, that is resulting in increased carbon emissions through transport of food and waste of produce due to lack of market access.
In Sweden, farmers have done exactly this and have created an opensource platform that anyone globally can access. For more information visit Local Food Nodes website.
Environmental Monitoring Group hosted Swedish farmer Albin Ponnert from Local Food Nodes from Sweden and Nomonde Buthelezi of Ezemvelo Organic Garden in South Africa, to discuss this topic in a Farmers’ Khuluma / Talk - links to the webinar and podcast are at the end of this article.
There are several great innovations this platform offers:
Most importantly, in relation to food security, power shifts to the farmer who can ensure a fair price for the produce. So, there is no role for retailers to exploit both the producer on one side and consumer on the other to gain as much profit as possible, cutting out the "middle man".
Farmers would be growing food they eat themselves, and their community would benefit from fresh healthy accessible food. Therfore making fresh produce available at affordable prices to the working class, and selling at accessible at market prices to the middle and upper class consumers.
Facilitating food justice and equality - in other words, it facilitates different price points with different prices allocated to different nodes based on distanced and affordability.
When a farmer advertises produce available for purchase then it is immediately accessible to the consumers already registered with the food node. Also, a farmer would have the flexibility to vary pricing depending on the food nodes specific market and the markets ability to pay.
The platform would be particularly useful if you are an urban farmer in an informal area who doesn’t have a retailer. It would allow the farmer to say: “If you buy from me I will be available on Saturday” - the consumer would pre-order and pay upfront so there is no waste - farmers are not standing all day waiting for people to come and the farmer is guaranteed payment.
The platform is farmer-driven, that is, there is no cost to the farmer to use it because it has been designed so that the consumers pay to use it by making a self-determined contribution.
Farmers get to decide when they sell, where and at what price, they are responsible for marketing their produce.
Developing food nodes in South Africa - the platform also uses current technology from a user experience point of view, but consideration of visual design, language and literacy would be essential in localised, to ensure there are no barriers. Accessibility to free mobile data and/or the possibility of data-free apps to assist those without income to use the platform would be another area of research.
Beyond local food nodes - the issue of distribution beyond a local area markets would be problematic for farmers without transport, but building local markets is a key move towards beginning to build local food security and livelihoods. This application of this technology has the potential to link and build connections between small-scale farmers and markets in their community areas, and begin to shift power relations in the food system.