Assessing the ICT-enabled agricultural commodity exchange market and its impact on small-scale farmers in South Africa Takudzwa
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Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Pre-democratic South Africa was highly regulated by the apartheid government with the
black small-scale farming community actively marginalised. Following the deregulation of
the South African agricultural market came the opening up of the market to accommodate
these small-scale farmers and also the introduction of South African Futures Exchange.
South Africa has done well in terms of development of ICT over the past years, making it a
country with characteristics of both first and third world countries. This study aims to assess
the agricultural commodity exchange market and how small-scale farmers may participate
more actively in the market. This study finds that though South Africa has world class ICT
infrastructure this has not made it easier for small-scale farmers to enter the agricultural
market and value chain. The study finds that there is little or no participation by small-scale
farmers in South African Futures Exchange. It finds that mobile phones and applications
may be the way forward in the efforts to ensure their participation in the commodity
exchange market through provision of services such as price discovery and price risk
management as is the function of South African Futures Exchange. It is also found that there
is need to invest in high value agricultural products in order to benefit more from commodity
exchanges.
Description
Magister Economicae - MEcon
Keywords
Commodity exchange, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), small-scale farmers, warehouse receipt system, South Africa, commodity markets, market information systems, mobile phones, price discovery, price risk management