Gauteng Smallholder Gauteng Smallholder November 2011 | Page 21

#SAFoodCrisis
Immigrants’ favourites:
Far left: African nightshade
Left: Cassava.
Right: Jute mallow.
From page 17
struggle to access their
nutritious indigenous crops.
The advantage of these crops
is that they are easy to
cultivate, highly resistant to
diseases and are drought
tolerant. Such crops include
cocoyam, yams, jute mallow ,
egusi (melon), kale, chomolia,
African nightshade, West
Africa Okra, roselle amaranth,
spider plant and cassava to
mention a few. The attributes
of these crops allow resource-
poor farmers to be able to
produce and potential
generate income.
The other fact that presents
an opportunity for small-
holder farmers in exploiting
this market is that these
consumers are willing to pay
good prices and they do not
mind acquiring their food
supply from informal and
open markets.
This is evident from their
current purchase trends.
Suppliers of these commodi-
ties in South Africa import the
crops from their country of
origin.
Immigrants’ favourites:Left: Egusi melon. Right: Roselle amaranth
19
www.sasmallholder.co.za
Suppliers sell them either
cooked or fresh. The fresh
products are displayed
outside the shops and are not
packaged.
Interviews conducted with an
African restaurant manager
and a small retailer owner
reveal that the demand for
these crops is very high and
Continued on page 21