Agricultural business and the investment climate in South Africa

The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) has compiled a study on the investment climate in South African agriculture. Find it here.

Affecting the industry's investment climate are:

• The upcoming elections in 2014 which are bringing a wait-and-see slow down.
• Policy developments around land. 
• The longer-term effect of the weaker exchange rate
• Increases in the price of energy (time to look at alternative energy sources?)
• Other administered prices (set by government and not the market) which have a negative effect on the price of doing business
• The recent labour unrest and demands (yes, address the social needs in the country but don't squash its business prospects: food security and much more is at stake)

Solutions lie in

• improved productivity and efficiencies
• utilisation of expanding markets
• the sophistication and efficiency of the value chain

These are all dependent on both local and international investment.

Agbiz represents the major part of the agribusiness sector in the country. Find a list of its members on its website, www.agbiz.co.za or click here. The chapter on agribusiness in The Agri Handbook is here.