The context
Durban, one of the country's five metropolises, is located on the east coast of South Africa. It has a population of 3.8 million, the vast majority of whom are urban, although 55% of the municipality is considered rural. In Durban, junk food is particularly popular with teenagers, students and young adults because it is so affordable. As a result, 70% of women and 30% of men are overweight. Youth unemployment in the region is very high at 35.6%. Young people are leaving the countryside for the cities in search of work that may be more rewarding than the agricultural jobs on offer. The development of a local, fair and environmentally friendly food system should lead to the creation of new jobs, which could be a real godsend for young people affected by unemployment. Attractive working conditions and incomes must therefore be guaranteed in order to raise the profile of these professions, which have been neglected by young people.
The Agri-Hubs project is a response to the difficulties that small producers have in accessing wholesale markets and supermarkets. The city council wanted to provide farmers with technical support to help them adopt more sustainable farming practices and to offer them a variety of markets to sell their produce at good prices.
The project
The project comes from the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, one of eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. The idea is to support small-scale farmers and encourage them to develop agro-ecology. This has led to the creation of 7 agri-hubs across the metropolis, with the aim of linking small farmers who have the capacity to sell their produce to retailers and markets. Indeed, the biggest challenge for small farmers is access to markets, as their prices are still too high due to high production costs and are therefore not competitive enough.
These agri-hubs are logistical platforms that bring together all the production from the different regions of the municipality. There, the products are inspected and a standard price is set. They are then sold to school canteens (the municipality has to supply 580 schools, i.e. 400,000 children), supermarkets and distributed to food donation associations.
The programme gives 426 farmers access to land and training to help them develop their business, improve their food security and generate income by selling their produce at a good price.
The municipality also donates inputs, seeds, fencing, compost and farming tools to farmers.
Finally, the municipality has developed farmers' markets, which facilitate links with wholesalers. In this way, they can compete with the big farmers.
“When it comes to food production systems, we still have a long way to go, and what I'd like to see is more industrial food production in our city. But industrial production that is based on the use of organic means”
Vuyo Jayiya, Deputy Head of Agri-Business
A little extra
The local authority wants to improve nutrition levels and access to more nutritious food for its residents. To achieve this, it has set up a school feeding programme: 589 schools are involved, representing a total of around 400,000 children. The aim of the project is to guarantee every child one meal a day. At 10 a.m., they receive a cooked meal with fresh vegetables and a nutritious protein content. The community is involved in this programme on the supply side to help producers access the market.
The primary objective of the programme is to reduce poverty. It also aims to ensure that children from vulnerable households with no income receive at least one free education from the Ministry.
This leaflet was produced by Magda Salvatore, Let's Food trainee in June 2021.
Last modification : 23 Jan 2024.