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Cape Town - South Africa's agricultural sector is a key player on the African continent, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana, said on Tuesday.
He was one of the keynote speakers at the first African Agri Investment Indaba taking place in Cape Town.
"This indaba is taking place at a time when SA is in a dreadful drought. We, therefore, need active public-private partnerships for success and to make a good business case for African agriculture," he said.
"I am confident that if we can complement our rich natural resources with investment support in agro-processing, Africa can easily feed itself and the rest of the world. Let us make this continent the bread basket of the rest of the world."
To him it is a pity Africa spends billions on food imports annually.
"We need to be active partners to advance our agriculture sector to compete upstream and downstream in value add. Something needs to be done urgently to ensure African agriculture can help reduce poverty and hunger," he said.
"Government on its own cannot achieve this. That is why we look at partners for a high level of competitiveness. Government has already done a lot of research and we have a very good idea of the type of investments required to move our agriculture sector to a higher level of
Zokwana would like to see the African Agri Investment Indaba become an annual platform for the creation of partnerships, sustainable investments, jobs and economic growth. Attention must also be given to mitigate the impact of climate change.
"The time has come for Africa to promote trade among ourselves, to interact, to use our land. The way to go is not to go alone as countries in Africa. Our imaginary boundaries should not prevent us from sharing our ideas and growing the continent," said Zokwana.
"The success of the agri indaba will not be in words, but in deals to show there is a place for investors to put their money."
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