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.
