Market access remains the single biggest barrier between smallholder farmers and financial sustainability. That was the central message from Dr Solly Molepo, manager of Trade Research and project manager for the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) at the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC), when he addressed the annual general meeting of the North West Agricultural Farmers Association of South Africa (NWAFASA) in Parys in the Free State on 28 May.
By Maile Matsimela, digital editor at African Farming
“The solutions exist. They are structured, they are supported and they are within reach,” Dr Molepo told delegates.
North West Produces but Markets Must Follow
Dr Molepo opened with production data that made a compelling case for why the province deserves far greater market access. North West is the third largest maize-producing province in South Africa, contributing 13% of national production, recording 2.2 million tonnes in 2024/25, a 71% year-on-year increase from 1.3 million tonnes the previous season. The province ranks second nationally in groundnut production, contributing 32% of total national production, amounting to 21 000 tonnes in 2024/25. Sorghum production surged 150% year-on-year, from 5.6 000 tonnes to 15 000 tonnes, and the province also ranks fourth nationally in wheat, with 17% year-on-year growth.
“The question is not whether North West farmers can produce – clearly, they can. The question is: Are those volumes reaching the markets they deserve to access?” Dr Molepo said.
Also read: Market access ‘just first step’ to success in export market
Six Strategies to Fix Market Access
At the centre of Dr Molepo’s address were six strategies he said must be implemented together if market access for smallholder and emerging farmers is to meaningfully improve.
- He started with the strengthening of farmer organisations, arguing that individual smallholders are too small to meet buyer volume requirements and too isolated to access market intelligence. Organised farmers, he said, negotiate better, access more and deliver more.
- Closely linked to this is the need to leverage digital marketing – platforms that give farmers access to buyers and market price information well beyond their immediate geography, which Dr Molepo said must become a deliberate strategy rather than an afterthought.
- Investment in rural infrastructure was identified as the unavoidable foundation. Roads, cold storage and reliable electricity are not luxuries, he stressed, and without them no market access strategy will succeed. This, he acknowledged, requires coordination across government and the private sector.
- Capacity building was the fourth strategy. Formal markets demand consistency, quality, traceability and compliance – and farmers who are not equipped to meet these requirements will always be locked out. The NAMC’s Agribusiness Development Division, Dr Molepo explained, actively identifies farmers, assesses their market readiness and puts in place the support needed to supply identified markets.
- The fifth strategy – and perhaps the most immediately actionable – is the encouragement of market linkages and contract farming. The NAMC creates structured platforms for farmers and buyers to meet and formalise supply agreements. “We identify the market, we identify the farmer and we build the bridge between them,” Dr Molepo said, noting that the goal is to integrate black producers into the commercial mainstream through commodity clusters.
- Rounding off the six strategies is policy reform and institutional support, with Dr Molepo cautioning that policies must be shaped to enable and not constrain smallholder participation in markets.
Also read: Faster market access tops priority list for agriculture
Five Streams of Support Available Right Now
Beyond strategy, Dr Molepo outlined five concrete streams of support that farmers and their organisations can access immediately:
- Ten Agricultural Industry Trusts, established after the disbandment of former control boards in 1996, hold assets valued at R2.65 billion and are mandated to finance transformation activities.
- On statutory levies, the sector collected R1.15 billion in 2024, of which R226 million went directly to transformation, with the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act requiring that at least 20% of levy income be ring-fenced for this purpose.
- Government support programmes, including the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) and Ilima/Letsema, and state-owned entities such as Land Bank, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the Agricultural Sector Education and Training Authority (AgriSETA), offer targeted financing, export certification, research and skills development.
- Other government departments, including the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and provincial development institutions such as the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA), the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA), the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA) and Wesgro, provide additional market development and enterprise support.
- And the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Seriti Institute, the FirstRand Foundation, Kagiso Trust and the Agricultural Development Agency (AGDA) offer technical and financial resources that complement all of the above.
Know Your Market: Use the Research
Dr Molepo urged farmers and organisations to use the NAMC’s publicly available research, produced by the Markets and Economic Research Centre (MERC). Trade Probe Reports, Market Intelligence Reports, Supply and Demand Estimates, Smallholder Market Access Estimate Reports and Value Chain Analysis Reports are all available free at www.namc.co.za. These are tools designed specifically to help farmers align their production with what markets need.
Also read: Easier, faster market access for livestock industry
The AAMP: Where it All Comes Together
All of these solutions sit within the AAMP – a social compact between business, labour and government agreed in October 2024, with implementation targeting 2030. Delivered through Value Chain Round Tables and Production Schemes, the AAMP’s explicit goals are to uplift black producers, improve volumes and quality through commodity clusters, and ensure rural food security and poverty eradication.
The Ask from NWAFASA
Dr Molepo closed with a direct challenge. Producers’ associations must work with the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (NWDARD), the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (NWDEDECT) and other organisations to ensure AAMP commitments are translated into provincial action and are tracked, monitored and reported at both production and agro-processing levels. Collaboration must be concrete: Data sharing, linking farmers to markets and advocating for infrastructure investment.
“The gate to the market is not locked. But it does require the right keys, organisation, information, relationships, policy support and collective will. The NAMC stands ready to be a partner,” Dr Molepo concluded.
Also read:
Inside the market day connecting SA’s smallholder farmers to markets, inputs and support
Support for small-scale farmers must translate into greater market access
Eastern Cape pushes for market access and growth for emerging farmers
