Value Chain-Induced Constraints Limiting Scale of Conservation Agriculture in South Africa

Wolfgang Johann von Loeper, Scott Drimie and James Blignaut

A chapter in Agricultural Economics - Current Issues from IntechOpen

Abstract: The potential of scaling conservation agriculture (CA), for long-term food security, remains under-investigated within the context of agricultural food value chains in South Africa. To scale the use of CA an understanding of the current agricultural value chains, their functioning, regulatory framework and constraints, is essential and this raises a key question: What are the main shortfalls and deterrents in agricultural value chains and why might CA be faced with challenges to feed into these existing structures, through which it could, the hopes are, create a more inclusive and sustainable farming system for long-term food security? The empirical data from an ethnographic qualitative participant research showed that interviewed value chain participants (VCP) are limited in acting on account of their economic constraints. None of them had products that supported CA, while financial institutions argued that such products would not be necessary, as any risk mitigating farming system would, in any event, result in financial benefits to the farmer.

Keywords: agricultural value chains; sustainable agriculture; agricultural economics; agricultural finance; farm ecology & policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q10 R00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:182469

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.84499

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