Small-scale farmers unite in bid for high end of veggie market
A group of small-scale farmers in Gauteng are pooling their harvests to deliver fresh organic produce to wealthy consumers in an effort to ensure their sustainability.
Access to markets for small-scale farmers is limited, but a group in Midrand are now bringing their produce to a central packhouse to access high-income consumers.
Fazlur Pandor, owner of Urban Fresh and co-owner of packhouse PBX, is a small-scale farmer in Midrand who grows organic herbs and leafy greens. He employs nine full-time and 12 seasonal workers to plant, weed, water, fertilise and harvest his crops.
Urban Fresh and about 20 other farmers pool their crops at PBX, which supplies fresh-food retailers such as Jackson’s Food Market and The Munching Mongoose.
Pandor has farmed on his smallholding for about two years, and was previously involved in developing food gardens in Alexandra township, assisting residents to convert illegal dumping sites along the Jukskei River into food gardens. Many are now incomeproducing, and some supply PBX.
The Munching Mongoose, which buys from Urban Fresh and other small-scale farmers in Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, has since 2014 offered a weekly vegetables-box delivery service.
Bradley Hook, co-partner of The Munching Mongoose, said consumers’ regular and weekly purchases enable Urban Fresh and its network of small producers to become sustainable.
The food e-retailer currently has about 400 subscribers who purchase its boxes weekly, up from about 300 prior to the pandemic. Demand increased during the hard lockdown last year to a peak of 660 subscribers.
Their most popular product is the midibox, which costs R599, including the delivery fee. The box, which is aimed at couples, small families or food for the weekend, includes six or seven organically grown seasonal fruits and vegetables, 2l of farm-fresh milk, 12 free-range eggs, one or two local gourmet cheeses, a freshly baked artisanal bread and an artisanal “surprise” product.
Regular orders from companies such as The Munching Mongoose assist in the financial sustainability of the small-scale farmers, but opportunities to grow their businesses are fraught with challenges.
The change in weather patterns, especially unusual rainfall, is a threat to their crops.
“The rain messed us up,” Pandor said, speaking of a two-month shortage of tomatoes because recent heavy rain resulted in a fungus that ruined the crops. “That’s why tomatoes were so expensive,” he said.
Rising input costs such as increased electricity tariffs and fuel-price hikes also eat into farmers’ margins, he said.
Pandor said funding options for smallscale farmers to grow their operations were limited because many of them, especially those in urban areas, do not have five-year lease agreements on the land they farm.
He said either the banks cannot extend loans to farmers or the government is not able to grant them financial aid as the use of the land is not secured for the requisite amount of time.
But he added that governmental departments, both on a local and national level, are increasing their support.
“Last year we saw a lot more action [from the government],” he said.
To assist small-scale farmers, the City of Johannesburg has hired more staff trained in agriculture, and the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development has hired an additional 10,000 staff.
Since the pandemic started, the agriculture department has assisted 15,036 farmers with vouchers to help them pay for items such as feed and fertiliser. This is according to a statement issued by agriculture minister Thoko Didiza last year.
“Each of the approved farmers will receive inputs in line with the size of their farming operations up to a maximum of R50,000,” Didiza said at the time.
Pandor said he would have preferred more of his R50,000 in vouchers to be allocated to fertiliser and less to seed, but added that he was grateful for the support.
The rain messed us up. That’s why tomatoes were so expensive Fazlur Pandor Owner of Urban Fresh