It has been a year since the completion of South Africa’s Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) but progress on the implementation remains limited.
Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), cautions that while the plan offers the government and private sector a framework to grow the sector, long periods between the completion of programmes and implementation could dampen momentum and confidence.
Sihlobo pointed out that the reason why little has been done is because much of the focus shifted to energy security in the country.
“With various interventions such as the load-curtailment, extension of diesel rebate, and Agro-Energy Fund under implementation, the sector should refocus its attention on the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan and explore means of implementation,” he said.
Neglecting or delaying implementation will only allow the present challenges to worsen, Sihlobo said.
Partners to reconvene
Sihlobo worries that broad sector support behind the plan could wane over time if the implementation is slow. Social partners who signed the AAMP should convene with the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development (DALRRD) to table an implementation proposal, he recommended.
“The meeting could start with the energy interventions made thus far to assist the sector and how these will be sustained moving forward to the next season, which may be a drought season, with higher demand for irrigation.
“This is a crucial step as few businesses would commit to the expansions promised in the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan with no clear sense of the sector energy strategy. Agriculture and agro-processing are intensive energy users.”
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Critical steps going forward
The second step, Sihlobo said, would be to remind the sector how the existing blended finance initiative between DALRRD and Land Bank will be broadened to other financing agencies to achieve the required scale to make a positive dent in transforming the sector.
Also, the DALRRD should launch its Agricultural Development and Land Reform Agency, which came into the public view in 2021 and has been at various stages of refinement since that time, he added.
According to Sihlobo, another vital step that will boldly separate the agency from other land redistribution instruments will be ensuring that the new entrant farmers to the sector have land with title deeds or tradable long-term leases.
“If the DALRRD fails to launch the agency sooner, the deliberations in implementing the master plan will always go back to land needs as a hindrance. Therefore, the government should unlock all these possible stoppages before advocating for a comprehensive implementation of the master plan,” he said.
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