By Dr Thulasizwe Mkhabela
Targeted Spatial Agricultural development in South Africa: operationalising the Agriculture and Agroprocessing Master Plan and capitalising on the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.
South Africa is land characterised by a dichotomous and dualistic economy and the contrast cannot be more striking than in the agricultural sector.
The South African agriculture sector can be characterised as highly sophisticated and developed commercial and dominated by a few large-scale farmers supplying the bulk of marketed food and agricultural products juxtaposed with a plethora of small-scale emerging often resource-poor and disjointed farmers.
This is a structural configuration owing to policies of the past but continues to manifest itself even 30 years after the advent of the democratic dispensation and despite carefully crafted policies and programmes to redress the injustices of the past.
There have been several policy attempts to redress the imbalances of the past in the South African economy, including those relating to agriculture but the effects of mala fide policies of the past continue to linger on.
Recently, South Africa has undertaken significant steps in developing a coherent inclusive strategy for agriculture in the country. The sector, led by the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has developed the Agriculture and Agroprocessing Master Plan (AAMP), which is just short of a White Paper for agriculture.
The AAMP is a huge step in the right direction in terms of supporting an inclusive growth of the agricultural sector and it follows a value chain approach. This value chain approach enables the isolation and targeting of individual value chains while not losing sight of their interconnectedness within the sector and the broader economy.
This approach should invariably lead to a spatial approach to agricultural development capitalising on the inherent strengths of the diverse ecological bioresource units in the country. This is in line with exploiting comparative advantages in order to create competitive advantages over time.
The adoption of the AAMP, albeit a long and protracted consultation process, could not have happened at a more opportune time.
South Africa, together with other African states have ratified the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) declaring Africa a free trade area for African business.
South Africa, as a leading producer of agricultural and food products on the continent, should ramp up its production in order to capitalise on this market opportunities without policy trade barriers.
The AfCFTA presents an unprecedented opportunity for agribusinesses in South Africa to expand their footprints into the African continent with removal of tariffs and other non-tariffs barriers to trade. It would be important for South Africa to quickly move into the African market before overseas non-African countries move in and crowd out African businesses.
Furthermore, South Africa should position itself such that it does not only trade in goods and commodities in the agricultural sector, but also becomes a centre of excellence for research, development, and innovation in the sector for the African continent to benefit from the already developed capacity.
One thinks of the likes of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) – a world leader in agricultural research, and the numerous reputable universities and other research institutions.
South Africa should unashamedly position itself as leader in this regard and reap economic benefits from its intellectual properties developed over the years, especially in the face of climate and consumer preferences changes.
Also, the shift of agricultural productions systems towards being more technologically driven and the embrace of the Internet of Things (IOT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) should bode well for South African agribusinesses and technology firms.
However, Africa is not a bed of roses when it comes to the obstacles that need to be surmounted in order to thrive on the African market. Africa is bedevilled with poor infrastructure which complicates the ease of doing business and increases the cost of business. Furthermore, there is a need to harmonise policies on standards and product quality across the African continent to level the playing fields.
Africa also must harmonise its infrastructure development such as having standard railway lines so the exporters can use standardised locomotives to transport their goods and obviate the need to change trains at the border post which increases delays and costs.
The border and harbour officials also need to be trained to operate in a similar and predictable fashion across the African continent to facilitate the free movement of good s and services.
An inventory of agricultural trade policies and concomitant infrastructure needs should be urgently undertaken in order to better understand what it would take to harmonize these policies and streamline infrastructure development in an integrated manner across the African continent as Africa moves closer together in terms of doing business with each other and the rest of the world.
Dr Thulasizwe Mkhabela is an independent agricultural researcher and policy analyst. He is also a director and Senior Researcher at Outcome Mapping and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Agriculture, Earth, and Environmental Sciences and an associate for the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network.
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