Research has shown that small-scale agriculture has the potential to provide both self-employment and rural employment for low-skilled and semi-skilled workers. This would assist in reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality that faces South African society and the rest of Africa. However, there is limited success in sustainable small-scale agricultural activities due to a number of barriers that include but not limited to:

• Funding constraints
• Lack of farming knowledge and skills as well as business knowledge and skills
• Infrastructure constraints, both agriculture and transport
• Poor locations far from markets, worsened by geographic barriers
• Lack of access to commercial input and produce markets
• Poor climatic conditions, including poor topography and soil conditions, in some areas.

NSFA, in partnership with Dicla Farm & Seeds (https://www.dicla.com/), has developed a small-scale farmer agricultural development model for the funding and development of small-scale farmers through a replication model that has been proven and currently being implemented on a small scale by Dicla. The model aims to address the problems faced by small-scale farmers throughout the value chain, from funding, cultivation, harvesting, processing and selling. Risk management through implementation and monitoring is at the center of the model. The intention is to replicate the model across Africa.