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It is widely acknowledged that lack of market participation and limited access to agricultural services contribute to keeping semi-subsistence farmers trapped in poverty. This paper discusses the potential of an innovative business scheme to enhance smallholders' situations by providing access to an integrated service provision scheme. The authors conducted an integrated analysis of farmers' production, consumption and processing patterns using case-based evidence. While confirming that the presence of rural depots can improve smallholders' access to services, they also highlight some drawbacks of private intervention and show the importance of taking into account the diversity of economic and social factors when designing smallholder support instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the acceptability and perceptions of traditionally prepared maize meal porridge, cooked from commercial roller-mill white maize meal and hammer-mill white and yellow maize meal (with and without fibre), among female Tsonga consumers in Giyani in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study used sensory evaluation tests, followed by focus group discussions to gather supportive information about consumer attitudes, perceptions and practices regarding the consumption of maize meal porridge prepared from these maize meal types. Giyani consumers preferred commercial roller-mill white sifted fortified and white super-fortified maize meal, but, contrary to popular belief, were also willing to accept hammer-mill yellow maize meal, mainly for its nutritional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the way the general turn from mass consumption to the increased qualitative differentiation of products - the 'quality turn' - manifests in the South African agro-food system and explores its implications in terms of market access conditions for small-scale farmers in particular. While most retailers' food quality positioning is in line with consumer trends, based on conventional price-orientated strategies, the retail sector has been entering and driving quality related niche markets and is even proactively re-establishing the demand for products, such as in the case of Karoo lamb. As illustrated by the organic case, alternative quality trends provide an opportunity for value addition that could potentially lead to considerable price premiums and growth. This potential has, however, been left largely untapped by local suppliers. The article shows that the main vehicle for the institutionalisation of quality in South Africa has been the establishment of new certification schemes which are largely driven by the dominant retail sector. This sector captures most of the consumer purchasing power and sets the rules governing the system. Based on this analysis, the article then explores the implications of new food quality trends and the dominant role of the retail sector in small-scale farmers' market access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation and a growing middle class with changing consumption patterns provide an ideal setting for supermarkets to prosper. With South Africa's urban population approaching 60 per cent, supermarket retail chains are now important players in the agro-food sector. Over the last two decades they have begun to purchase produce from in-house sourcing companies who buy mainly from large-scale farmers. Together with the strict requirements of the retail groups, this makes it difficult for small-scale farmers to supply these retailers. This paper highlights the market changes that could continue to exclude small producers from mass consumer markets. It uses a case study to show how small farmers can be integrated into the urban retail market and, using evidence from this study, proposes a number of strategies to help them participate in the mainstream agro-food supply chains and an innovative model for including them while maintaining profitable business operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to improve understanding of meat demand in South Africa through the estimation of a Linear Approximation of an Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) for the South African meat complex which includes beef, mutton, pork and poultry. As the most widely consumed animal protein, a special focus is placed on poultry, which is disaggregated into two separate product groups, namely IQF portions and other poultry products, providing an improved understanding of demand preferences among different poultry cuts. In light of the changes that have occurred in both global agricultural markets and the South African consumer environment over the past decade, the model is estimated based on monthly data from January 2008 to September 2014, yielding short run elasticities. Expenditure elasticity estimates for IQF portions, other poultry products, pork, mutton and beef were 1.17, 1.24, 0.44, 1.07 and 0.8 respectively and the compensated own-price elasticities were estimated as −0.61, −0.43, −0.72, −0.96 and −0.11 for IQF portions, other poultry products, pork, mutton and beef, respectively. Most of the estimated elasticities conformed toa prioriexpectations, with the exception of poultry expenditure elasticities, which were higher than expected and in line with luxury goods, rather than normal goods, as the most affordable source of protein. Within the lower income consumer groups, where poultry dominates meat consumption, it was argued that meat in itself is a luxury good, reflected in the elasticities of poultry as the most affordable entry point into the meat market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]