Penetrating the market as a subsistence farmer in rural areas is difficult yet not impossible. It is difficult because the commercial markets come with a lot of demands that rural farmers are often not skilled to achieve.

Before a rural farmer plants, they should have identified the type of the market they want to supply, know the requisite good agricultural practices and have relations with role players in the market one wants to supply after harvesting.

Culturally, rural farmers in the Eastern Cape, for example, plant maize in abundance because maize is also its staple food. Throughout the summer into autumn, fields are brimming with maize that would be in surplus supply because it cannot be consumed by subsistence farmers' families only.

Often these farmers will opt to use small informal markets like street vendors to sell their produce, which will hinder financial productivity. The reality is, with mandatory agricultural requirements of the market, farmers cannot just take their maize to different markets because different markets require different grains of maize and subsistence farmers must tailor-make their produce to suit relevant niche markets.

Furthermore, Inter-provincial trade in maize must be strengthened to benefit rural farmers, with the surplus being processed and used as feed and other products.

Offering skills transfer and coaching, as well as equipping subsistence farmers with knowledge regarding the maximisation of the agricultural value chain in identifying and securing the markets, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development through its cooperatives and enterprise development units, is doing a great job.

What is also heartwarming is that the department works with municipalities and wholesale markets to allow local, rural and small farmers to sell their produce for a calculable profit.

Sinazo Alungile Novukela Lugangeni, Mount Frere