Interested in which South African agri sectors are set to receive energy and attention from government as per its strategy?

The Department of Trade & Industry identifies economic sectors and subsectors to which it should lend its weight. These sectors have potential to grow jobs and the economy, all the more so if government could lend a hand. These areas for government attention can be found in South Africa's Industrial Policy Action Plans (IPAPs).

We will look at which areas are of interest to agriculture in the IPAP for the years 2013/14 - 2015/16, and provide a link to where overviews of those sectors can be found in The Agri Handbook.

Key action programmes still include the following from the previous IPAP:

= development of a food processing strategy and action plan
= development of a soybean strategy action plan
= development of the organic food sector
= development of the small-scale milling industry
= enhancement of the competitiveness of the domestic fruit and vegetable canning industry

Although not specifically agriculture, we mention here the so-called Green industries (which include renewable energy).

Areas covered in the previous IPAP which have not been renewed are the implementation of the water efficiency programme for the sugar sector and the promotion of rooibos and honeybush exports.

Aquaculture is identified for increased intervention, as are biofuels and forestry.

A new programme in agro-processing is that of supporting the public-private partnership for food security, primarily through increasing the participation of smallholder farmers in the formal agro-processing sector. This is to happen through giving these farmers access to the retail sector, government procurement and small-scale processing opportunities.