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Govt's black farmer strategy did not bring expected results - CEO

Cape Town - The black farmer strategy of the government has not yielded the anticipated results, Phakamani Hadebe, CEO of Barclays Africa, said at a recent commodity conference hosted by Agri SA at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West.

"The average age of farmers in SA is between 56 and 63 years old. At the same time the agriculture sector will have to feed more mouths as it goes along," said Hadebe.    

"The challenge we have is that the problems we have in agriculture are the same ones we were discussing already ten years ago. So we know our problems, but we sit here and discuss those problems again and again."

These issues include land, government and partnerships.

"The question is whether all this talking is having an impact on the day-to-day life of farmers. We need to clear our own house in the agriculture space," said Hadebe.

In his view, the key question for SA's agriculture sector is whether it has been able to communicate to South Africans the challenges the sector is facing. It is important to communicate the message to South Africans so that they support the efforts of the agriculture industry and understand what food security involves.

"Without agriculture SA cannot survive. Yet, we have not been able to get South Africans on our side," said Hadebe.

"In the US, for instance, the Food Bill is supported by the Americans, also in Europe it is a case of not just the politicians discussing agriculture. The public there knows it is about ensuring a stable food supply and supporting farmers."

READ: SONA: Zuma's R2.5bn for drought aid questioned

In his view this is not the case in SA, where the three levels of stakeholders, namely government, farmers and South Africans are often in opposing positions to each other.

"Therefore, the challenge for the agricultural sector is to propel the concept of food security. One needs political influence to achieve this - something the local agriculture sectors does not have. We should be directing discussions in parliament," said Hadebe.

"SA farmers must ask how they can help the 20% of South Africans who do not have enough food. Then South Africans won't look at the agriculture sector as being only in it for their own interest."

READ: Agriculture will carry economy

Rico Basson, managing director of VinPro, said it is estimated that each job created on a farm in SA leads to the creation of five more jobs in the industry.

"I am not sure if we are communicating in the right language to a targeted group. We have to rethink and strengthen the core. We need to work harder on trust and partnerships on national as well as local level," said Basson.

"We need more assistance to be able to do more. We need partners to do more ethical trade and ethical business. We need to dialogue on social platforms and take our partners with us."

Dr Konanani Liphadzi of Fruit SA said in her presentation that the food industry was able to export more by working with the SA government.

"SA needs to have a more diverse crop of farmers and also take care of the environment," said Liphadzi.

She explained that SA produces about 4.7 million tonnes of fruit each year - most of it in the Western Cape - of which about 60% is exported and 12% consumed locally, while 28% is processed. The fruit industry contributes about R30bn to the SA economy and supplies about 190 000 jobs.

"SA produces more fruit than it can consume and it brings the country foreign income. However, what mostly comes to mind for the SA public when they think of the agriculture sector is 'people putting others in coffins'," said Lihpadzi.

"It is our responsibility to unpack to the SA public how critical agriculture is for them. We need to raise the public awareness of the value of the agriculture sector. Food security can and should be that vehicle."

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