Small-scale farming - contraints defining the sector

Abstract

It has been widely promulgated that for economic development to be sustainable, South Africa will need to shift their perspective towards an entrepreneurial growth model within the small-scale farming sector. Entrepreneurship within this sector needs to be sustained through efficient and effective means that will ensure these ‘ecopreneurs’ implement their visions for a sustainable future. Regarding the small-scale farming sector, the development of sustained entrepreneurship is significantly hindered by numerous constraints. This study will investigate how the lack of resources, sector constraints and supply chain inefficiency impact small-scale farmers in South Africa. Making use of business model innovation as the base theory for this study to investigate the sectors complexity and the direct impact in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of production and the supply chain. A qualitative exploratory study was used. This ensured the researcher was able to capture the experiences of the selected purposive sample within the small-scale farming sector. The sample consisted of a minimum of 12 respondents or when saturation was achieved with no new constraints being identified. The findings derived from the study identify that the lack of resources, contextual constraints and an inefficient supply chain prevent small-scale farmers from deriving the benefits associated to business model innovation. The research was limited based on the initial aspect associated to that of qualitative grounding. This method excludes a quantifiable element of verifiability of responses. The research process is subjective which carries a high risk of personal biases. The benefit of such research, it provides an alternate view to entrepreneurial theory that currently exists within the small-scale farming sector. This will ensure current and future small-scale farmers can develop their current business model using the business model canvas as the defining model to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations.