Paper short abstract:

The paper offers analysis how inequality to ‘access’ - access to information, capital, services and remunerations counter technological and regulatory objectives to address food security. The study presents South African experience related to GM maize integration in the maize value chain.

Paper long abstract:

Three decades after its adoption, genetically modified (GM) maize remains contentious in South Africa (SA). More than 70% of maize consumed in South Africa (SA) is GM maize, which is pest resistant contain a protein (Bt) produced by a common soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bt maize is government-subsidised in order to make it affordable for farmers, primarily for the black smallholders farming community, who are struggling to benefit from the agricultural market and policy liberalization. The paper analyses the maize global value chain (GVC) which operates in a dualist market structure. Because of the historical bifurcated regulatory framework, mainly responsive to large-scale established agriculture, the underlying conditions causing inequality in the agricultural sector never resolved. Using the Institutional Feasibility Study framework (IFS), the paper identifies that the regulatory and technological efforts to address inequality has largely failed to because of accessibility. While 72% commercial farmers adopted GM maize, less than 5% black-smallholder farmers benefited from the government-subsidised Bt maize adoption for three decades. Access to information, capital, services and fair remunerations are related to two core areas - seed quality and contract governance. The paper recommends that crop specific competition policy can reduce competition among producers, processors and service providers in the maize GVC.