The power of collaboration as a national solution

When it comes to establishing new and sustainable supply chains in South Africa, SPAR believes that developing small-scale farmers is critical. That is why SPAR launched the SPAR Rural Hub Initiative in 2016. It contributes positively towards job creation, infrastructure development, skills transfer, empowerment, and food security. Traditionally, smaller producers have found it challenging to enter formal value chains and face many obstacles. These include food safety compliance, funding, technical and business support, poor farm infrastructure and inconsistent crop yields and quality. Such complex, often overlapping, issues can only be addressed through a collaborative approach from a range of stakeholders, including farmers, communities, government, food manufacturers, input suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, financial institutions, and funders.

Satisfying the strict food safety requirements of our SPAR retailers has been difficult for small-scale producers. However, in collaboration with GLOBALG.A.P we have developed a customised SPAR localg.a.p Capacity Building Food Safety Programme. Introduced in 2017, it has seen small-scale farmers advance through three levels - localg.a.p to full GLOBALG.A.P certification in 2020. Through this capacity-building programme small-scale farmers are beginning to compete with commercial farmers when it comes to market access. Not many believed this would be possible when we began, but our determined farmers have proven them wrong, thanks to support from SPAR.

Through a collaborative approach, the initiative is beginning to enjoy measurable success, with tangible benefits to the farmers. In December 2020, First National Bank extended enterprise development funds to the SPAR Rural Hub initiative to help share the costs associated with the provision of technical services to our participating small-scale farmers. Within this innovative programme, all farmers are provided with a range of training

interventions such as food safety training, crop planning, land preparation, planting, fertilisation, irrigation, integrated pest and disease management, harvest management and financial management – all skillfully led by an in-house team of Agronomists. Training support has also relied on partnerships with research institutions, nutrition experts, local and international organisations such as the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the Amsterdam Initiative Against Malnutrition (AIM), GLOBALG.A.P. as well as local and international seed companies.

In February 2021, Kagiso – through the Tyala Impact Fund – contributed by providing both input and infrastructure funding. This partnership has further enabled our farmers to produce commercial quality and quantities of high-value crops grown under the protection of net houses.

Although it’s been a challenging year for the SPAR Mopani Rural Hub, the farmers, their families and their workers, through SPAR’s support and that of local communities, input suppliers, financial institutions, and funders (FNB and the TYALA IMPACT FUND), these hard-working farmers have remained in business during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and are making a valuable contribution to food security and job creation in rural communities.

The success of supplier development programmes is often measured by the number of participating small-scale farmers, but we believe there should be a shift in focus. True success should be measured by the number of small-scale farmers that graduate from the programme and move on to farm sustainable commercial enterprises with minimal support interventions, as we are beginning to see with our SPAR Rural Hub farmers.