Informal Trade

7. City Deep, Johannesburg

City Deep Terminal may be the largest dry port in all of Africa, but that does not mean that smallholder farmers and individuals cannot participate as well. Directly adjacent to the container holding yards is Joburg Market, a sixty-five-thousand square meter facility housing the largest market supplier of fruits and vegetables in Africa. Bulk-buying clientele, such as restaurant suppliers, and individuals, mingle amongst rows of imported and domestic goods.
        As a nation, South Africa offers the world a southern hemisphere agricultural hub that stands ready to export a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables when the northern hemisphere hibernates. Its livestock exports are year-round and stable. To facilitate this, however, South Africa imports the supplies and machinery necessary to keep the cycle running. As these cycles become increasingly strained by climate change, however, the nation may look inward—to smallholders, and to new agricultural techniques—to remain food and economically-secure into the future.