Local governments should use their powers to support small-scale food traders and producers, particularly in towns and cities, experts said in a study published this week.
The research was led by the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (Plaas), which investigated the impact of the pandemic on SA’s food system, particularly for small-scale women farmers and traders.
It found that Covid regulations affected the food system unevenly, with negative outcomes for low-income producers, traders and consumers.
The study suggested that municipalities should prioritise space for public food markets, provide infrastructure for traders and end the harassment of informal traders.
“Local government is the sphere of the state with the mandate and authority to shape urban food systems,” said the institute’s professor Ruth Hall.
“It can and should use its powers to create spaces within the city where those who grow food can sell it and those who want to buy it can do so. Alternatives to corporate-owned food retail must be actively supported,” she said.
The experts recommend that local governments should not automatically grant planning permission for the rebuilding of supermarkets and shopping malls destroyed during the unrest.
“Rather, work with small farmers, bakkie traders and street traders to identify spaces for food hubs in cities where food markets, especially for fresh produce, can expand,” said Hall.
The study found that despite the supply and sale of food being declared an “essential service” and exempted from some lockdown regulations, vast sections of the informal sector were closed under the restrictions imposed by the government from March 2020.
The research focused on fresh produce in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and fish in the Western Cape.
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