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The roles of the agribusiness sector and African governments in food security were discussed at a meeting recently held by the Agricultural Business Chamber (ABC) and NEPAD Business Foundation (NBF) in Pretoria.
Through its programme for the revitalisation of the agricultural sector in Africa, the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), NEPAD has set a target of raising agricultural productivity by at least 6% per year and increasing public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year, as agreed in the Maputo Declaration. The CAADP's focus areas for improving Africa's agriculture fall under 4 pillars, each dealing with key issues, namely land and water management, market access, food supply and hunger, and agricultural research.
How does South Africa measure up?
Pillar 1: Sustainable Land Management and Improved Water Control Systems.
In terms of land management, there are positive and negative aspects. On the upside is the greater move to Conservation Agriculture, or similar environmentally sustainable production practices, in the commercial agriculture areas especially. This trend, however, still needs to expand and grow considerably. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) also runs the important Land Care programme, but it does appear to have run out of steam over the past year or two. A greater emphasis on spatial planning by government is another positive development, but this needs to be implemented judiciously at all levels of government and across the whole country. Of concern in this regard is the loss of highly productive cropping soil to mining, especially in the Mpumalanga province.
Land management in general, but especially in the former homeland areas, also remains a concern as soil erosion, over-grazing, soil acidity, etc., inhibit the production potential of the land/soil.
Of much greater concern in South Africa is water management, given that agriculture uses approximately 60% of available water. South Africa is generally a water-scarce country and water management systems will thus be essential to ensure the sustainable use of this critical resource. Especially worrying is the level of both organic and inorganic pollution of many of our major river systems. Recent reports have highlighted that only 7% of our wastewater treatment systems in South Africa meet the required international standards, with much poorly or untreated effluent flowing back into our river systems. This water quality concern has been raised by the Agricultural Business Chamber (ABC), as well as by many other role players, at Presidential level and it has both a major food safety and export earnings loss impact.
Pillar 2: Improvement of Rural Infrastructure and Market Access to Reduce Transaction Costs and Increase Competitiveness.
While government has embarked on a major infrastructure investment initiative over the past three to four years, this has been focussed predominantly on upgrading infrastructure in the urban areas. Given the focus on the SWC, this is understandable, but once the SWC has been completed, the focus needs to shift on upgrading the rural infrastructure.
The massive move of, for example, grain transportation from rail to road, not only adds approximately 25% to transport costs, but has a major impact on the quality of our roads. Most rural roads were never built to accommodate 30 ton 'Interlink' lorries with their pothole legacy. Agro-logistics has become a major focus area across all the agro-food industries in an attempt to contain rampant transaction costs.
However, it is not just rail/road infrastructure that is critical, but also energy (electricity) and telecommunications infrastructure and costs that impact on competitiveness. The recently announced electricity price hikes over the next 3 years are a case in point.
Pillar 3: Increasing National and Regional Food Production to attain Food and Nutrition Security.
In broad terms South Africa can compliment itself on national food security, given that it is a net exporter of maize, the major staple food, as well as maintains a positive agricultural trade balance.
However, closer examination reveals that many households in South Africa are hugely food insecure as they do neither possess the skills and means to produce sufficiently for themselves, nor have the disposable income to purchase the necessary food items to ensure a balanced and nutritious diet. There needs to be a greater emphasis on the competitiveness of agro-food value chains and on self reliance to achieve a greater measure of food and nutritional security.
Pillar 4: Improve Research Systems and Secure the Creation, Dissemination and Adoption of New Agricultural Technologies.
To remain competitive and to overcome the ever-present cost-price squeeze, it is essential that new technologies are developed, disseminated and adopted right across all the agro-food value chains. There is concern among experts that the public National Agricultural Research System (NARS) that was established and developed over many years is slowly but surely deteriorating, primarily due to a lack of investment/funding, as well as due to a loss of critical skills and scientific capacity.
In a sense the private sector and especially the multinationals have now replaced the public research institutions as the major providers of new technology. This however comes at a price as these companies have to recoup their investments in technology development.
There are however a number of major areas that the private sector cannot invest in, and for this reason a strong public NARS remains essential. To this end a NARS Research and Development Strategy was developed by experts to realign the NARS, but the implementation thereof by the authorities has been sadly lacking.
Conclusion
In conclusion, given the relatively developed base from which the broader agricultural sector in South Africa operates, there are certain positives. However, it is clear that there are a number of fundamental challenges that will have to be addressed to ensure a competitive and vibrant agricultural sector. The agriculture sector is not only of importance to South Africa, but has a very significant regional and even continental influence, and as such justifies considerably more investment, both from the public and private sector. Government also needs to implement policies that create an enabling and conducive environment for such investment. The results will be improved growth, food security for all, job creation, poverty alleviation and rural development.
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