Project Rebirth rolls on

A few weeks ago I wrote about the ‘tsumani’ of renewed urgency and positivity engulfing many of South Africa’s fresh produce markets.

Project Rebirth rolls on
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I’ve reported on this phenomenon before and, as a staunch supporter of the commission sales system and markets in general, I’m delighted. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve written about the urgency of this matter. And many other role players in the fresh produce sector have been saying similar things for years. Now they’re providing the leadership to keep this ‘wave’ rolling. The Institute of Market Agents of SA (IMASA) started it all at its 2011 AGM, with the launch of Project Rebirth to actively tackle the problems besetting most of the markets in the country.

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Task team
A task team was created to facilitate the ‘rebirth’ of markets, and this bold move has cut deep into IMASA’s financial reserves. Fortunately, additional financial support has come from some of the other organisations. The IMASA initiative was soon followed by Potatoes SA (PSA), which received a clear mandate from its producer members: “fix the markets and we’ll support them.” This dovetails perfectly into Project Rebirth and the two initiatives are now working together.

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Currently, no less than seven markets are on the Project Rebirth radar and all are receiving assistance to some degree or other. Others are ‘on the list’ and as resources become available they’ll be helped as well. Some unexpected developments have emerged out of all the frenetic activity. The least expected one has been the enthusiastic support from most of the market owners – the municipalities. I’m one of many who has repeatedly laid the blame – or most of it – for the slow death of SA’s markets at the door of municipalities and their officials.

Real support
With Project Rebirth, however, we’re witnessing a wave of real support – not lip service – for the improvement of markets. A number of municipalities have allocated substantial sums of money to invest in infrastructure and other improvements. This alone has hitherto been almost unheard of among markets. One municipality has even given Project Rebirth the mandate to facilitate a complete turnaround of its market by setting up a private entity to run it.

Contact Mike Cordes at [email protected]. Please state ‘Market floor’ in the subject line of your email.