We visited the Joburg "Super" Market!

Early wake up on Monday the 15th for a visit to biggest market of Africa; the Joburg Market. Here, all sort of people can come to supply themselves for food; from retailers to household, restaurateurs, shopkeepers... We arrived there around 8 a.m. Two women who work there gave us a tour of the place. It's huge, and looks like a giant human anthill. Everyone is stirring.

Hangars where produces are sold 

First we visited big hangars where fruits and vegetables were stored to be sold. There, farmers can sell their products to retailers or restaurateurs for example. Our guests explained us the market gets 5% of the total output of the sells. That's how it flourishes.

Stored fruits, waiting to be sold 

After that, we visited different storages of vegetables and fruits. Some products are kept in cold spaces, out of the light, in order to control their ripening. For example, one man explained us that the bananas, which mainly come from Mozambique and Limpopo, are being harvested while they are still green and then stored in the market. The goal of that practice is to control the ripening of the bananas. Because on the trees, they don't mature at the same pace. Therefore, they can control the process of maturation of all the bananas. 

On each side; refrigerated rooms where fruits and vegetables are stocked

One of the refrigerated room

Here are bananas stored in a cold place

The final stop was a side of the market at human scale. We mean that the proportions were smaller: you can do your groceries for home. However, the prices looked more interesting there than in a supermarket; you can buy whole boxes of fruits and vegetables. As the quantities are bigger, the prices are reduced. 

Here are sellers of the "human scale" market 

We can definitely say that the market is a place of distribution and exchanges. It allows retailers to supply themselves in fresh produces that they will sell later. It is also an alternative from the supermarket for households. The market enables consumers to be directly in contact with the producers of their food. 

Sources:

Pictures: from our own camera and Clara Covès's phone
Information about the Joburg Market: http://www.joburgmarket.co.za/index.php