The South African policy sphere hails the commercialisation of small-scale farming as the answer to a myriad of socio-economic, ecological and political challenges of rural livelihoods. Yet the low agricultural productivity of this sector challenges the realisation of this pathway. Through comparison with large-scale farmers, this review sought to elicit the main reasons for differences in productivity and explore the prospects of small-scale farming. It highlights that low productivity of small-scale farming cannot be solely ascribed to biophysical constraints and that differences rather arise at farm and regional level. Therefore, intervention strategies should not be solely sought at field scale, which seems to be the norm. While the prospects of small-scale farming may seem gloomy at first glance, opportunities such as investing in horticulture exist. Prospects for small-scale farming are limited by the country's very competitive and thriving large-scale farming that saturate most agricultural markets. A key conclusion from this review is that we still do not know enough about small-scale farming systems in South Africa. For example, what is the contribution of small-scale farming to the living income of households? Are farming households food and nutrition secure? In particular, the role of agriculture in improving rural livelihoods is poorly understood. Farming is likely to remain an important supplementary livelihood opportunity for the majority of rural households. As such, small-scale farming needs to be rethought as part of a broader livelihood strategy by all stakeholders while continuously seeking alternative entry points towards thriving rural livelihoods. This means provision of support for transition to more commercial farming activities for those with interest and sufficient resources, while alternative employment or social protection is provided for others. A key question for research is what types of farming (crops and livestock) and what scale of operation is needed to achieve commercial success in different regions.

南非政策领域称赞小规模农业的商业化是解决农村生计面临的无数社会经济、生态和政治挑战的答案。然而，该部门的低农业生产力对实现这一途径提出了挑战。本综述通过与大农户的比较，试图找出造成生产力差异的主要原因，并探讨小农户的前景。它强调了小规模农业的低生产力不能仅仅归因于生物物理限制，而是在农场和区域层面出现差异。因此，干预策略不应仅在现场范围内寻求，这似乎是常态。乍一看，小规模农业的前景似乎黯淡，存在投资园艺等机会。小规模农业的前景受到该国极具竞争力和蓬勃发展的大规模农业的限制，这些农业使大多数农业市场饱和。这次审查的一个关键结论是，我们对南非的小规模农业系统仍然知之甚少。例如，小农对家庭生活收入的贡献是多少？农户的食物和营养安全吗？特别是，人们对农业在改善农村生计方面的作用知之甚少。对于大多数农村家庭来说，农业很可能仍然是一个重要的补充生计机会。像这样，所有利益相关者都需要重新考虑小规模农业，将其作为更广泛的生计战略的一部分，同时不断寻找其他切入点，以实现繁荣的农村生计。这意味着为那些有兴趣和有足够资源的人向更商业化的农业活动过渡提供支持，同时为其他人提供替代就业或社会保护。研究的一个关键问题是需要什么类型的农业（作物和牲畜）以及需要什么样的经营规模才能在不同地区取得商业成功。