"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.

Growing Africa: World Bank agribusiness report

There is space for Africa’s food market to triple in value, says the latest World Bank report Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness. The market is currently valued at $313-billion a year.

The report comes in a context of a continued decline in sub-Saharan Africa’s share of agricultural exports. Countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand export more agricultural products than all of sub-Saharan Africa together.

The report encourages countries to “harness investors’ interest in ways that generate jobs, provide opportunities for smallholders, respect the rights of local communities, and protect the environment."

A growing middle class on the continent, more expensive tastes, an anticipated boom in supermarkets and higher commodity prices are given as reasons.

Rice, poultry, dairy, vegetable oils, horticulture, feed grains and processed foods for local markets are identified as areas most likely to do well.

Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Malawi and Zambia are mentioned as examples of those already tapping into these markets, and it is farmers with greater access to credit, willing to modernize their practices, to make use of fertilizer, irrigation and new technologies that are leading the way.

Find the World Bank report here.

Relevant to this report in The Agri Handbook for South Africa are the Fertiliser, Speciality fertilisers and Irrigation chapters. There will be several others, of course (there are nearly 180 chapters in all!) Take a look at Precision farming and Hydroponics & undercover growing for example.

Job creation

In its ‘Economic Survey of South Africa 2013’, presented to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan yesterday (4th March), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)  emphasised that boosting the country's "dismally low" employment should form the hallmark of all South Africa's policies. It pointed out that our very unsatisfactory educational outcomes aggravate the oversupply of unskilled labour and worsen the income inequality.

That there are problems with our educational system is not news to us, of course.  It is a subject in the National Development Plan, the President's State of the Nation address and we are familiar with news stories like the late delivery of textbooks. [Readers who are interested in what is happening in skills development should take a look at our sister publication and website at www.skillshandbook.co.za].

The OECD survey deals with other aspects too and the reader will find the survey on www.oecd.org.

Job creation is a new chapter in the Agri Handbook for South Africa, appropriately situated in the "National issues" section. Like everything else, agriculture has a context, finding itself uncomfortably affected by processes which we would love to wish away.

Find the job creation chapter here.

Our global food economy

The food economy brings problems not unique to South Africa (see previous blog, The case for unity in agriculture). We have a problem, World. This problem is global, and it keeps the poor shut out.

“With a child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment-related problems, hunger remains the world’s largest tragedy and scandal,” says FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

The case for unity in agriculture

Unity in agriculture?

Our society is divided. This was identified by the National Planning Commission as one of the country’s challenges. Although there are times when there are bridges and we fly a common flag, the issues coming from our past present a great challenge to agriculture.

We might produce the best grapes and have amongst us some of the best farmers in the world, but if there is division in the sector then at best this country will only be a mediocre player in world markets. (At the time of writing, some from within the country are calling for a boycott of our own fruit!) Nothing significant happens without unity, said the writer Osho, and he could well have been commenting on the state of this country.

How do we get there? Is it possible?

The same Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) report which found that the R150 per day wage demand would render most farms unprofitable also found that even on R150 a day it would still be difficult for those workers to buy nutritious food. The food economy that we have built is unkind to both farmer and farmworker. Doesn't that means that farmer and farmworker are on the same side?

Emerson called producing food the glory of the farmer. "The food which was not, he causes to be". Farmers take risks to do this - economic, climate and socio-political being amongst them. If the food economy rewarded farmers more for their produce, the farmer would be able to pay a better wage. The dairy farmer received around R3 for that litre of milk you paid R9 for!

Some say that the tension leads to a vibrant, democratic society. True, if there is a shared awareness of our oneness and a sense that we are all in the same boat. In such a continuum, although there might be conflict there also comes resolution. No one gets exactly what they want, but there is give-and-take all around. The leaders are shrewd and get the best deal for their constituencies – without killing the goose from which the golden egg is laid.

The major challenges to agriculture in 2013 will be the ones stemming from our divided past. We need to do our damnest to ensure that our land reform and empowerment programmes succeed.

But let us remember that there are also deep fault lines running through the economy, specifically the food economy. And these fault lines run underneath all we are trying to accomplish in agriculture and in rural development. This presents the strongest case for us to remember kindness and patience as we pursue our goals.

Predictions for Agriculture in 2013

Some popular agricultural experts raise the point that people need to eat and so there will always be a future for agriculture. It is easier to get on with life when there is optimism, and we will go with this sentiment and merely point to a cloud or two in the sky above agriculture.

The first cloud is related to the issues which stem from our divided past – labour, land reform and ensuring that our developing farmer programmes work.

The second, ever-present cloud is staying profitable. Unless a farmer can make money, his operation will not continue. In the same way that people think food comes from supermarkets, they also assume that farmers have money (and so of course can pay higher wages and afford higher input costs!) Particularly significant among input cost increases to plan for are labour, electricity, water, and fuel. Toll fees and shipping costs will apply to some producers.

The experts say that global prices for agricultural commodities look set to hold at high levels – good news for agriculture – and the weakening exchange rate helps the country against imported produce and being on the receiving end of goods being dumped here.

Find "More predictions for agriculture 2013-14" written in July here.