Project number
FDOV12SA03Country
- South Africa
Location
- Limpopo
Sector
- Agriculture
Project budget
Partners
- Manombe Cooperative Trust
- Mopani Super SPAR-Giyani
- WUR – Alterra
- Stellenbosch University
- ZZ2
- Dacom BV
- Limpopo Department of Agriculture
Project description
In this project the private sector namely SPAR, the Manombe Cooperative Trust and farmers are ready to invest in production and marketing as soon as innovative niche products are identified and entrepreneurship capacity at related smallholder farms as business partners is built up. South Africa has a free market system and the position of a small farmer far from the markets is challenged by the mere size of his endeavour. The Giyani region is characterized by difficult socio-economic and agro-hydrological conditions, while the region has the best soils and a tropical climate. Development can only be achieved by innovating agri-business and the identification of niche-products. Building up the related capacity in innovating agri-business implies that the project cannot be commercial from the beginning. Investing in a PPP to establish an innovation facility will result in several benefits to facilitate sustainable entrepreneurship in the future. The project builds on a EU FP7 research programme with the object of isolating primary innovations through a trans-disciplinary participatory process.