Is SA’s agriculture under siege?

For some time, there has been an emerging narrative that SA’s agriculture has not performed well recently.

The government’s failings over the past decade and the lack of implementation of many development policies also catalysed this narrative.

But this narrative is far from the reality of the South African farming sector.

Regardless of how experts feel about the state’s capacity and the government’s policy stance since the dawn of democracy, the one undeniable fact is that the sector has grown tremendously — and is certainly not failing.

Data from the department of agriculture shows that domestic agricultural output in 2023/2024 had more than doubled the size in 1994.

A few sectors did not drive this expansion, but it has been widespread — livestock, horticulture and field crops have all seen strong growth over this period.

The higher production levels have mainly been underpinned by new production technologies, better farming skills, growing demand (locally and globally) and progressive trade policy.

The private sector has played a major role in this progress.

I use “progressive trade policy” to highlight SA’s standing in global agriculture.

According to data from Trade Map, the country was the world’s 32nd largest agricultural exporter in 2023, the only African country in the top 40 in value terms.

This was made possible by a range of trading agreements the South African government had secured over the past decades, the most important ones being with African countries, Europe, the Americas, and some Asian countries.

The African continent and Europe now account for about two-thirds of SA’s agricultural exports, and Asia is now also an important market.

The agricultural subsectors that have contributed most to this progress in exports are fruit, wine, wool and grains.

SA now exports roughly half of its agricultural products in value terms, reaching a record $13.2bn (R243.2bn) in 2023, according to data from Trade Map.

The increase in agricultural output is why SA is now ranked 59th out of 113 countries in the global food security index, making it the most food-secure country in Sub-Saharan Africa.

I recognise that boasting about this ranking when millions of South Africans go to bed hungry every day may ring hollow, as I pointed out after a few presentations where I cited these statistics.

However, it is essential to note that many South Africans lack access to food due to the “income poverty challenge” rather than lack of availability due to low agricultural output, as is the case in other parts of Africa.

SA produces enough food but does not export all of it. A lot is kept domestically for the local market.

To address poverty, SA must ensure employment and that households have sufficient income to buy food.

The global food security index balances the four elements (affordability, availability, quality, and safety) to arrive at a rating that covers matters at a broad national level.

Inclusiveness

As I argued in my recent book, A Country of Two Agricultures, SA still has a long way to go regarding inclusiveness.

“Nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy, SA has remained a country of ‘two agricultures’.

“On the one hand, we have a subsistence, primarily non-commercial and black farming segment; on the other, we have predominantly commercial and white farmers.”

The book adds that “the democratic government's corrective policies and programmes to unify the sector and build an inclusive agricultural economy have suffered failures since 1994”.

It continues: “The private sector has also not provided many successful partnership programmes to foster black farmers’ inclusion in scale commercial production.

“It is no surprise that institutions such as the National Agricultural Marketing Council estimate that black farmers account for less than 10%, on average, of commercial agricultural production in SA.”

This lacklustre performance by black farmers in commercial agriculture cannot be blamed solely on historical legacies. The ANC government carries part of the blame.

Still, plans are in place to sustainably increase the number of black farmers in the sector.

The plan doesn’t entail replacing the existing farmers with new black farmers.

The government has about 2.5-million hectares of land to distribute with title deeds to black farmers. This will be “growing the agricultural piece”.

The stories we tell about ourselves and the country are essential.

While the emerging narrative of the sector under siege is gaining traction, we must highlight the sector’s gains, protect it, and address the domestic challenges that may threaten this robust progress.