Farming is not an especially sexy topic. It’s not a huge part of our modern economy. These days, the World Bank estimates that farming and fishing account for just 2.2% of value-added as a percentage of South African GDP, compared to 12% for manufacturing and 61% for services.
It’s also not something that most of us are involved in. In South Africa, just 5% of employed workers are involved in farming (although many more farm on the side or engage in some subsistence farming activities at times).
As such, farming mostly attracts headlines when something goes wrong, like a drought, or when it is in the political spotlight, as in the case of the land reform debate.
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And yet, farming is absolutely critical to our lives. People can live without iPhones and accountants, but they cannot live without food. And no farming means no food.
South Africa has long been in the happy position of being a relatively food secure country, at least at the national level (there is considerable food insecurity at the household level).
This means that, in general, South Africa grows enough food to meet its own needs (although this doesn’t include food we like but can’t grow in our climate and must import). South Africa is, in fact, one of a handful of countries that has reliably been a net food exporter for many years.
WORLDVIEW: Farming is not the answer to South Africa’s economic woes
This remarkable state of affairs has occurred despite the relative aridity of SA and its relatively small proportion of arable farmland. It is largely down to the fact that food production in SA is well-developed and technologically advanced (excluding, of course, small and subsistence farms) and therefore, highly productive.
Yet all is not well in SA’s farmlands. As agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo points out, the SA agricultural sector is currently in recession. Several years of insufficient rainfall, coupled with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, have hit both crops and livestock hard.
What’s worse, the outlook is not good – dry weather is expected to continue in the next planting season. The sector has also been hit by load shedding. For example, the Western Cape is in the middle of its fruit season and unreliable electricity is hurting irrigation systems and has the potential to hurt refrigeration too.
So, what is to be done? The government has repeatedly said that agriculture is a key sector for improving jobs and livelihoods in rural areas. Yet, beyond the land reform drama, little seems to be happening.
Nevertheless, it is possible to design a smart agricultural policy for an increasingly dry country with plenty of unemployed people.
- Focus on labour-intensive crops
One key advantage SA has compared to competitor food exporters is a large, cheap workforce. Countries like the US and UK have been experiencing challenges finding workers to pick fruits and vegetables, especially since their clampdowns on immigration.
In SA, there is a sizeable workforce available and willing to work the fields for wages well below global norms. This is an opportunity for farmers, especially those who have traditionally required on low-labour crops – in general, labour-intensive crops command higher prices.
- Get water smart
South African farming is far too water-intensive. SA is a dry country, and it’s getting drier every year. Rainfall patterns are also shifting, meaning that the regions that were once right for farming may no longer be right in years to come. Farmers need to start thinking much more strategically and long-term about water usage. New technology can help with these challenges. The government should support this by investing in research on drought-resistant crops, more-efficient irrigation systems, and in climate resilience infrastructure.
- Get into agro-processing
Exporting raw agricultural products is all well and good, but value-adding agro-processing would be even better. What’s more, enhanced food processing capacity could prevent post-harvest food losses.
Sheep-filled countries like Scotland have built world-class reputations for high-quality yarn products. Many other countries have translated their traditional food preservation techniques into a global commodity – think of Korean kimchi. There’s no reason why South African traditional foods like biltong or amasi couldn’t become the next hot food trend. Or maybe even SA maggots.
South Africa’s farming sector is a gem, a model of private capital investment, productivity, and South African ingenuity. The country must do more to preserve and capitalise on this key source of economic resilience.
