The South African agriculture sector finds itself amid storms that have resulted in having to find new ways of operating to be sustainable and create jobs. From the government of national unity and biosecurity to geopolitics, the sector has seen it all and is still going strong, according to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP).
A report released by BFAP on the state of agriculture in the democratic era stated that the sector has become more sustainable, agile, and resilient. However, this may be short-lived unless the state can address the dualism that plagues the sector as a result of the heavy hand of the past.
“After 30 years, in the post-apartheid dispensation, a host of plans have been put forward to develop and transform the agricultural sector, disappointingly, implementation and execution were inadequate and/or uncoordinated, resulting in frustration and failure. In response, new plans were developed without addressing the root causes of failure and frustration,” the report stated.
Too many policies
According to the report, the first-ever policy or white paper to be drafted was over three decades ago, in 1995, called the White Paper on Agricultural Policy, and the last one was the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) drafted in 2022. In totality, the sector has seen policy papers being drafted in the past 30 years.
“As a result, the dualism that has divided the sector, the product of more than a century of segregation, suppression, and support, has not abated. The many attempts to remedy this situation through a range of plans and programmes have been ex-post, piecemeal and unsuccessful,” the report stated.
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The report cited that not all was lost, however, the sector needs to move with speed to ensure that it catches up with its peers from other countries despite the global and local challenges as the population would forever need food.
“The ability of the sector in all its components to adopt new processes, techniques and artefacts in order to increase productivity. Most of these advances have come about as a result of new biological and mechanical technologies.
“The ability to exploit new market opportunities, mainly in domestic markets but even in foreign markets. Examples include the switch to becoming a net exporter of beef and the substitution of domestic for imported soybeans and their processed equivalents.”
Animal health and biosecurity
In dealing with vaccine manufacturing to combat the biosecurity threat, the report indicated that it is important to find better ways of dealing with the state-owned Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) to ensure that the state is ever ready to deal with any outbreaks.
“The concern about the availability of vaccines and the contestation about the true situation is a major concern and harms the reputation and standing of OBP. Our management of animal diseases remains compromised.
“The fact that OBP management and board have not allocated their profits for 15 years to the maintenance and improvement of capital equipment and production facilities like any private company points to poor management and poor financial planning,” the BFAP report explained.
Climate change and energy
Meanwhile, the report highlighted that animal production had a mix of good and bad news over the years, with climate change and adverse weather conditions contributing significantly.
“The dairy sector is the largest based on volumes, with approximately 3.3 million tons of fluid milk produced every year at 62% growth since 1993, the beef sector maintains its second position, with the total value of beef in 2023 exceeding R42 billion from approximately 760 000 tons.
“Sheep industry has not shown any material growth, and in recent years, with extremely dry conditions in the semi-arid areas of South Africa (Karoo), sheep production has come under increasing pressure, coupled with weak economic growth and relatively high sheep prices,” the report stated.
On the energy side, the report indicated that while load shedding had a severe impact on the sector, more commercial farmers have opted for alternative sources of electricity.
“Farmers are most often directly linked to the energy grid through Eskom and have been severely affected by load shedding. The supply constraints are made worse by the continued above-inflation electricity tariff increases.”
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