The Agricultural Marketing Act: a post-mortem

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Periodical article

Title:	The Agricultural Marketing Act: a post-mortem
Author:	Groenewald, J.A.
Year:	2000
Periodical:	South African Journal of Economics
Volume:	68
Issue:	3
Pages:	364-402
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	legislation economic law agricultural marketing
External link:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2000.tb01175.x/pdf
Abstract:	South Africa's Marketing Act was one of the most controversial pieces of economic legislation in the history of the country's agriculture. From its enactment in 1937 to its repeal in 1997, it profoundly affected agricultural marketing and prices of agricultural products. This paper sketches the environment in which the 1937 Marketing Act was promulgated, the developments leading to the Act, and its nature. It also describes debates involving the Act, later developments and the sequence of events that led to its repeal. It shows that one of the main problems in South African marketing under the Marketing Act was the absence of competitive pressure for differential advantage on the market. In the beginning of the 1990s there were clamours from consumer and business groups to terminate the system. A Committee of Enquiry came to the conclusion that the Act did not satisfactorily achieve its intended goals and objectives. The new Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, Act 47 of 1996, involves much less State interference, regulation and involvement in agricultural marketing and product prices. Bibliogr.