Agri SA congress: ‘Reduce reliance on imports’

South Africa’s capacity to grow food locally should never be taken for granted. To become less reliant on imports, a renewed drive to grow, produce and manufacture locally is needed.

This was the key message shared at the opening ceremony of Agri SA’s annual congress today. Held at The Maslow Time Square in Pretoria, role players from across the country are currently deliberating on “growing local,” the congress theme.

Welcoming attendees, Agri SA deputy president Phenias Gumede said, “Every policy and every action [we take] should [ensure] that we can feed our nation, create jobs and help grow South Africa’s economy.”
 
“For [the country] to prosper, we need a sustainable and profitable agriculture [sector] as the current trajectory. We need to work together as Agri SA members, government, and the private sector to help improve the sector.”
 
Home-grown food is imperative for food production, said Gumede. It is therefore important to address the challenges and opportunities faced by producers and the sector at large.
 
“Local food production is about more than food security it is also about food certainty. Food certainty looks at the availability and affordability of food, as well as the ability of consumers to earn a living,” he said.
 
The two-day congress is set to showcase the achievements, opportunities for growth and solutions that can aid food security and economic development.

Sustainable job creation

Taking to stage, Agri SA president Jaco Minnaar said political and economic shocks across the globe has forced countries to rethink production supply chains. This, said, was also the case with South Africa where, for example, a big portion of Mzansi’s wheat imports comes from Russia and Ukraine.

“There’s now a renewed drive to grow, produce and manufacture locally and become more independent from imports. If we succeed, we will reap the rewards of a sustainable job creating sector that uplifts rural communities,” he said.
 
Encouraged by the agriculture sector’s growth and positive economic performance, Minnaar pointed to primary production increasing from R224 billion in 2014/2015 to R346 billion in 2020/2022 – a nearly 9% increase per annum.
 
The same growth, Minnaar said, was evident throughout the pandemic, therefore contributing significantly to the stabilisation of the country’s economy. Also, it shielded South Africa from the worst consequences of the sharp decline in GDP in other sectors.
 
“With the third La Niña year in row predicted and local and international product prices still quite high, we expect another good production year. However, a very sharp increase in input costs, challenges in export logistics and markets, foot-and-mouth disease and various other factors could damper this expectation.”

Tough times in farming

Meanwhile, Agri SA congress attendees are awaiting speeches by agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza, former Agbiz chief executive Dr John Purchase, Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, and Tony Esmeraldo, commercial business leader for Corteva Agriscience.
 
The gathering takes place amid trying times in farming, from recent cattle movement restrictions and the economic fallout of Covid-19, to ongoing power cuts by Eskom, rising input costs, and the global impact of the war in Ukraine.
 
Organisers of the event said the congress will look into sustainable infrastructure for locally grown food, making the local environment sustainable for local food production into the future, and strengthening food producers’ capacity to process locally grown produce.

• Stay tuned to Food For Mzansi for updated coverage on the Agri SA congress.

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