"Farmworker Spring" article

In his article "Farmworker Spring" published by SA The Good News, Christopher Rowbone-Viljoen says:

"One can generally determine the health of an industry by assessing whether the number of players in the industry has grown. In the case of commercial farmers, since 1994, the numbers have declined from 120,000 to 37,000 ... A one-size-fits-all, 51% wage increase is clearly not the answer if government wants to create jobs in an industry that has already shed an estimated 400,000 jobs since 1994.

"Using grape growers as an example, over the past 5 years production costs have steadily increased while grape prices have declined, coupled with unforeseen disasters such as the flooding experienced along the Orange River in 2011. These are marginal farms teetering on the verge of collapse. For many farmers, wages can form up to 40-50% of their entire production cost. In an environment where prices are declining, they will be left with no choice but to close their doors or shed further jobs".

Read an update in this blog.

In The Agri Handbook for South Africa, job creation is a theme is many of the chapters, as well as being a chapter all on its own in the National Issues section. Find it here.