As the country settles down following the 2024 general elections, there are calls for all hands on deck to build a robust, sustainable, and job-driven economy. Agricultural leaders have joined in, advocating for collaboration and putting aside personal interests.
In an exclusive interview with the chief executive officer of Agri SA, Johann Kotzé, Food For Mzansi’s news editor Tiisetso Manoko discusses his role at Agri SA. Kotzé also gives insight into the refreshed branding of the organisation, the politics of the agricultural industry, his message and the much-anticipated Green Horizon Congress in October.
Tiisetso Manoko: It has been almost a year since you took over the reins. What has it been like leading Agri SA?
Johann Kotzé: I think the more you dwell in agriculture the more you realise how complex the sector is if you think of the demographics of South Africa, the production zones, and the produce that is being produced. And if one looks at the complexity of agriculture, the more humble I become.
I am also humbled by meeting people working in the sector; we have beautiful people in agriculture and an amazing agricultural community. I also think the business model we use in agricultural operations needs to be future-focused because young farmers are different and the world is changing.
What does the facelift of the Agri SA brand entail?
We had a look at the brand and asked ourselves what is the new challenge for us, and we said it is to take what we have – including the 120-year legacy – and refresh it. We utilise the colour green because we want to be the green party in South Africa. We believe the people in agriculture should lead the green concept.
We also want to focus on the cultural differences and we are not talking about race. We are talking about the farming culture, and the idea was to say let us embrace our different cultures across the country. The focus is not really on Agri SA but rather on agriculture in South Africa and the different dynamics that are there.
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What are the focus areas for Agri SA in the year ahead?
The first one is food security. We ask ourselves as a country, ‘Are we food secure?’ and if we are not, how do we develop a strategy to be food secure? Food security is not only for us but also for exports. The export market is a massive market for us which is why it is important to sustain what we have and create new opportunities.
If we look at the Brics bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), it is still an untapped concept. We still need to develop plans for those regions because there are massive opportunities for agriculture.
The other focus is the national animal health status. Foot-and-mouth disease is a symptom of something that is not working. There needs to be a plan for how to manage animal health in South Africa.
The other thing is looking at the policies we have. We need to look at the policies we have and ask ourselves if they still serve us to reach the strategic intentions that we had as the agricultural industry. One of the things we need to do is to modernise our policies and regulatory environment. We need to ask ourselves if those policies or laws are still sustainable.
The development of young people is another important aspect. We have brilliant young people, however, it seems like they do not fit into the structures we created, so we need to see how we bring these young people into the sector.
Lastly, regarding training and skills development, we lack practical training at the school level. We need to invest in that space and the government has a big focus on that. We need to hire people who are skilled.
You have been very vocal about the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP). Do you think it needs to be redone?
No, one thing about the AAMP was that it was never a policy or a law. It was a social compact and in my mind social compact is having people around the table who will always have differences and who will say there is something greater – and that is agriculture in South Africa.
What was put was: Can we sit together and can we take ownership of agriculture in South Africa? And that is what the AAMP is about; putting our differences together and coming up with a plan. That is what the then minister Thoko Didiza had in mind with the plan.
I do not think we need to dust it off, it is just that there is a lack of implementation from the government side. But from the farmers’ side, there is still a lot that we can do.
One of the biggest challenges in South Africa is that we always talk about things we do not have, instead of talking about things we have. I am not in favour of starting this process again.
What can we expect from the Green Horizon Congress in October?
So we said to ourselves: What can we see? What came is that when you see into the horizon you look into the future. And we said to ourselves that we can see that the business environment we are in, is changing dramatically.
Things like the government of national unity, the geo-political situation on the globe, the disruption in the logistics, and the Covid-19 impact – all these things are changes that agriculture needs to absorb.
Green Horizon is about taking ownership of green. A green future is agriculture and also the green horizon is that there is much hope in agriculture. The idea is to say we need to celebrate the 120 years of AgriSA and in doing that we look at this complex environment we are in with much hope.
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