Market access is one of the biggest constraints facing small and emerging farmers. The Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbated the problem as traditional markets closed under lockdown restrictions, leaving farmers stranded with their produce and unable to earn an income.
At the same time, however, millions of South Africans were pushed into poverty as incomes vanished, creating an overwhelming need for hunger relief and assistance. This created an opportunity to help suppliers adapt by matching their excess supply to a different source of demand the hunger relief and food security market.
In response, Standard Bank launched OneFarm Share, an online match-making solution that connects farmers with registered charity organisations that offer feeding programmes in vulnerable communities. The OneFarm Share platform leverages off the strength of its partners: agritech pioneers HelloChoice manage relief requests via its platform capabilities while FoodForward SA has the infrastructural capacity, including cold chain facilities and beneficiary organisation network, to receive the huge donations from farmers who are donating directly into our warehouses around the country.
“We then distribute this food to our beneficiary organisations which have been previously vetted and receive ongoing monitoring, to ensure that the food donations we receive in trust through the OneFarm Share initiative goes directly to the intended beneficiaries,” explains Andy Du Plessis, FoodForward SA Managing Director.
Platform’s farmer community range
Since launching in November 2020, the OneFarm Share platform has delivered over 2,200 tonnes of fresh produce, which translates to eight million meals for over 700,000 people in South Africa. Grant Jacobs, CEO and Co-Founder HelloChoice says that farmers really appreciate the convenience of donating through a single platform and trust OneFarm Share to get their nutritious produce contributions directly to communities.’
Siphiwe Sithole, who runs African Marmalade, a successful organic farming enterprise in Gauteng that supplies organic produce and products to different stores across Johannesburg, is one such farmer and agro-processor that is taking advantage of the platform to reduce waste in her business and to play her part in “ridding the country of poverty and hunger”.
The platform’s farmer community range from small and emerging farmers, large commercial players, and from farmers that produce and sell raw commodities to agro-processors. Sithole, who is an agro-processor herself, says that she believes OneFarm Share to be a powerful platform in that it is creating access to new markets for small-scale farmers. She is now bringing together small-scale farmers from across the Gauteng province to contribute platform.
“If one can create easy market access, especially for smaller farmers, the risk of financial failure is reduced, and their economic activity can contribute to uplifting communities through employment,” Sithole says. “OneFarm Share is helping these farmers to reduce waste and the impact of deflationary price pressure, allowing them to focus on growth, which is a huge challenge.”
Sithole first contributed cabbages and potatoes to the platform through African Marmalade, her agro-processing business. Later after joining forces with other small-scale farmers, they were able to contribute 21 706 kgs of produce to OneFarm Share that included a variety of vegetables, including beetroots, Hubbard squash, sweet potatoes , and tomatoes.
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