The Department of Agriculture will be embarking on a fact-finding mission into the devastating effects of the drought on informal traders and communal farmers. The DA is concerned about the informal traders and communal farmers that depend on their sales to support their families, for without their sales they will not have another option to put food on the table to sustain themselves and their families- much less the markets. The department has announced that the investigation will include and not be limited to:

• Oversight visits to all 22 fresh produce markets around the country in order to ascertain bottleneck issues affecting small traders;
• Visit every province to interview street vendors and informal traders on what action steps they need from government to stay in business and make a profit;
• Oversights to find fresh produce conducive sites for new potential fresh produce markets that is closer to rural areas;
• Finding red tape impediments in the current legislation affecting informal traders and communal farmers with the rezoning of rent-free trading locations being a priority.

The Department of Agriculture has previously conducted oversights into street vendors selling fresh produce on the streets of Limpopo, Emalahleni and Gauteng. The following observations were deduced following discussions with market agents and vendors:

• One third of the small business associates have given up on their ventures.
• The turnovers for the small business owners still selling their wares have declined by more than 20%, and most of them say that they will close their little enterprise if there was any other opportunity to earn a living for their families.
• More than 30% of the traders have disappeared over the past 3 months. Those who are still in business only buy 50% of the quantity compared to last year.

Source - freshplaza.com