The rise of supermarkets and challenges for small farmers in South African food value chains

After over 20 years the rise of supermarkets in South Africa continues and has now reached the rural and urban poor as new customer segments. Supermarkets are thereby also putting traditional and informal food vendors into increasing competition. However, traditional and informal distribution ways are so far the most important sales opportunities for millions of small farmers, which are mostly not capable to fulfil the requirements of the supermarket chains. This paper explains the actual developments in the South African food value chains, and resulting actual and future challenges for small-scale farmers in their national context. The study is based on a conceptual framework which links existing approaches on analysing the integration of small farms in supply chains in a South African context with the Global Value Chain approach.