The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) has reiterated the agricultural sector’s importance as a force for good in growing the South African economy and advancing the country’s place on the global map.
Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo yesterday said as various political parties deliberated on the future of a Government of National Unity (GNU), they must keep the agricultural sector uppermost in mind.
“This is a sector that should offer an avenue of convergence across the political spectrum: it is crucial for rural development, food security, and employment creation,” Sihlobo said.
Last week, the Vumelana Advisory Fund said the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries contributed an added value of nearly R117.5 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
It added that this substantial contribution from the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries highlighted the importance of these sectors in driving economic growth and development.
Sihlobo said that some of the critical areas that deserved emphasis included protecting property rights.
“Moreover, the government should continue to release the state’s over 2 million hectares of land acquired over the past few decades to appropriately selected beneficiaries,” he said.
“Title deeds should be a priority as they lend these beneficiaries much-needed dignity and a source of financing. Still, releasing the government’s land should not be the end-all for the land reform programme. Land reform should continue through all its existing levers: redistribution, restitution, and land tenure.”
To successfully achieve transformative outcomes in agriculture, Sihlobo said state capacity should be reinforced.
“The various directorates in the government that run programmes associated with land reform must be bolstered, and corruption must be dealt with decisively so that the resources for land reform reach the intended beneficiaries.”
Sihlobo said that more directly, the priority should be on addressing animal health issues, dealing with the complexities and excessive costs that assignees add to businesses under the Agricultural Product Standards Act, and modernisation of Act 36 that regulates the registration of agrochemicals, seeds and other agricultural products.
He added that continuing to expand market access for agricultural products in various export markets and dealing with rural crime incidents also needed priority.
According to Vumelana, supportive policies and frameworks from the government also remained vital.
“This includes creating an enabling environment that encourages investment in Communal Property Associations (CPAs), by providing the necessary training and development to make CPAs an attractive investment for partnerships with private investors for example,” Vumelana said.
“Policies that promote land tenure security, provide tax incentives, and facilitate market access can significantly enhance the capacity of CPAs to fully contribute to economic growth, job creation, and efforts toward poverty alleviation.”
Meanwhile, the National Agricultural Marketing Council (Namc) yesterday requested comments/inputs from directly affected groups following the citrus industry’s application for the continuation of statutory measures (levies, records and returns and registration) on citrus fruit packed and passed for export.
This comes after the minister of agriculture, land reform and rural development last month received a request from the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) for the continuation of statutory measures (levies, records and returns and registration) on citrus fruit produced, passed and packed for export, in terms of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (MAP Act) 1996.
The current statutory measures will expire at the end of this year.
The Namc said it believed that the measures requested are consistent with the objectives of the MAP Act as set out in section 2 of the act.
BUSINESS REPORT