Rocketing costs threaten black farmers

Johannesburg - The high cost of energy and the new farmworker minimum wage have caused many farmers to reconsider their future, the African Farmers Association of SA (Afasa) said on Wednesday.

If production costs remained unsubsidised, government’s chances of increasing the number of black and smallholder farmers in South Africa would not be achieved, Afasa secretary general Aggrey Mahanjana said in a statement.

"We have been inundated with calls from smallholder farmers who want to quit farming due to rocketing costs of doing business."

Afasa believed that if the status quo remained, food security, growth, and development of the sector would be under serious economic pressure.