Barry Streek
The complex problems facing the production and distribution of craft and other products in rural areas and turning them into commercially marketable products are to be discussed at a two-day workshop in Johannesburg this weekend.
The Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA) workshop will tackle problems of quality, delivery of products and supply of raw materials in the broad craft industry. The focus of the gathering, expected to draw more than 150 delegates, will be on linking rural producers in South Africa to commercial markets within the country, a goal that would have positive spin-offs for job creation. The MDA, a R23-million-a-year project, operates seven development centres and an additional five business supply stores in different parts of South Africa.
The agency, for instance, is associated with a cobbler in Quthing in Lesotho who is making “the most beautiful products such as sandals”. He is able to obtain leather in his home area but he cannot buy buckles and little eyelets there, not even in Maseru, and he has to travel to South Africa to acquire these basic necessities. The MDA’s Kate Philip says some of the difficulties are associated with getting “inputs”, such as beads, into the rural areas. The other side of the problem is related to the sale of finished products because of the uneven quality of products and the irregularity of supply. The logistics of transporting finished products is another massive problem. The MDA has established a buying agency, Ethaleni, which means “resource”, to help overcome some of these difficulties and link producers with markets. “The markets in tourism, in the craft sector, for natural and indigenous products, and for fairly traded products, is huge,” the agency said in a statement.
The MDA is also involved in numerous small entrepreneurial programmes. This includes developing marula beer and marula oil as commercial products; sandstone crafts; developing products for the homeware and garden markets; assisting a group doing mosaic murals and products in Klerksdorp; papermakers in Morokweng, North West Province; and exploring ceramics in the Eastern Cape. From the demand side, the MDA says there are problems relating to poor design, lack of exposure of rural producers to contemporary trends and the changing aesthetic in that market. With regard to supplies, inroads have been made into the markets and large orders have been secured.
However, there is a problem when producers are required to pre-finance the scale of production required to meet the demand. “The market is unforgiving: it moves on,” a statement from the MDA says. The MDA says it has organised the workshop to look at how to bridge the gaps between rural producers, contemporary design and high-valued markets. Speakers, panelists and participants include rural producers, product designers, retailers, national associations of arts and crafts, government departments, applied research institutions, technikons and business development service organisations. The workshop, Bridging the Gap Between Rural Development, Product Development, Contemporary Design and High Value-added Markets, is to be held on March 29 and 30 at the Sunnyside Park hotel in Houghton. The evening programme at the end of the first day includes a product promotion of the MDA’s rural products, including Marula Brew, a commercial product adapted from traditional marula beer, and marula oil, which is used in cosmetic products. The MDA is initially marketing these products mainly to game lodges around its Mhala Development Centre in Northern Province, where production takes place, but it intends to use the workshop to promote them to a wider audience and it is looking for partners to assist in rolling out marula micro-breweries and oil-pressing facilities in communities across Southern Africa.