iZindaba Zokudla Virtual Farmers’ Lab 20 April 2022 1730 – 1900.
Short Supply Chains and circular enterprises
Do you eat food that costs a lot more than what you can sell it for? Do you receive low process for your produce, only to see it, or similar products appearing in your supermarket at high prices? In this unit we will investigate what farmers can do to gain more of the retail value of food. This means they need to shorten supply chains and “command the value chain”. We will look at what farmers and food processors can do to de-link from the supermarket system, input systems, and build value creating relationships amongst themselves.
The linear food system creates value for those who sell food in this system, but it reduces value for us as food consumers, and marginalises the farmer, as there are simply too many additional players in these value chains. Farmers need to command the whole value chain for maximum benefit.
Typically food is produced in far-flung rural areas. These products are aggregated or collected from many producers and are often sold as bulk commodities on fresh produce markets. Distributors, processors and supermarkets buy in bulk at the fresh produce markets and then send the food on a long transport path to packers and then, finally, to local retailers like supermarkets. Often, poor communities pay much more for food than what they would pay if they produce and distribute it amongst themselves. Here we will look at how we can build local supply chains that serve immediate communities.
Local value chains include inputs and outputs, and in this course we will take a look at the following systems that can be built in the enterprise. These systems will integrate the upstream and downstream inputs in the enterprise in new ways, and includes the following:
• The water system;
• The energy system;
• The land, soil and site;
• Technology and infrastructure;
• Customers, stakeholders and ancillary entrepreneurs;
• Retail, distribution and inputs; and,
• Financial systems.
There may be other systems of importance in your enterprise. However, we will focus on these as this would be a good illustrative exercise.
In the presentation next week, we will focus, show and discuss how circular systems can be designed and implemented for each of these systems in your enterprise.
Please join us next week 20 April at 1730 online! Please click the MS Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NWY1ZDJkMmItNmZiYi00NmRhLTk4Y2EtM2QzODM2MjlmNDBi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22fa785acd-36ef-41bc-8a94-89841327e045%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22d9ec2883-9bca-4af7-a566-ab88fff0f5a6%22%7d
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