Grain SA has urged the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) not to hold farmers solely responsible for rising food prices, arguing that producers are only one part of a complex food system in which costs accumulate throughout the value chain.
On 7 July, the organisation presented its case during the second leg of the SAHRC’s National Investigative Hearing into South Africa’s food system.
The SAHRC launched the inquiry to investigate why millions of South Africans continue to experience hunger despite the country’s capacity to produce sufficient food. It is examining whether structural and policy failures, together with corporate practices and market concentration, are undermining the constitutional right to adequate food.
The investigation is being conducted in two phases. The first leg, held in March this year, heard evidence from government departments, state entities, and civil society organisations. It concluded that South Africa’s food market structure warrants urgent investigation due to concerns over market concentration and corporate pricing, and found that 22,2% of South African households experience food insecurity.
These findings prompted the SAHRC to broaden the inquiry to examine the role of private-sector stakeholders in food affordability and access.
The second leg, which commenced in July, focuses on private-sector stakeholders across the food value chain, including agribusinesses, input suppliers, food manufacturers, retailers, and producer organisations such as Grain SA.
Grain SA CEO Dr Tobias Doyer told the SAHRC that the organisation represents about 70% of South Africa’s grain producers, including approximately 15 000 emerging farmers. Its members produce major staple and oilseed crops such as maize, wheat, sunflower, and soya bean.
He said grain producers play a critical role in ensuring food security, supporting rural employment, and helping to keep staple foods affordable.
“Food security starts where food is produced. Producers operate in rural communities where farming supports jobs, livelihoods, and local economies. Our role is to help ensure that food can be produced as safely, nutritiously, and affordably as possible, while also recognising that grain farming must remain economically sustainable,” Doyer explained.
Food prices driven by more than farm-gate costs
During its submission, Grain SA stressed that the retail prices consumers pay for food are influenced by numerous factors beyond the farm gate, including fuel, fertiliser, electricity, transport, storage, processing, manufacturing, packaging, and infrastructure costs, as well as retail margins and household purchasing power.
Doyer noted that, in the case of bread, less than 20% of the retail price of a loaf is attributable to the wheat price, with the remainder attributable to milling, baking, transport, packaging, energy, and retail-related expenses.
“Producers are often the cost absorbers in the food system. Rising fuel, fertiliser, and energy costs place severe pressure on farm-level viability, but those costs are not always immediately reflected in what producers receive.
“If farmers cannot recover the cost of production over time, production capacity, jobs, and long-term food security are placed at risk,” he explained.
During the hearing, Dr Stephen Devereux, who led questioning on behalf of the SAHRC inquiry panel, challenged Grain SA’s support for higher tariffs on imported grain, arguing that the policy could undermine food affordability.
Doyer responded that tariffs are intended to protect South African producers from competing against heavily subsidised imports, maintaining that sustainable local production is essential for long-term food security.
Local production under pressure
Grain SA also highlighted the impact of deteriorating transport infrastructure on food affordability, saying poor roads, rail bottlenecks, and long distances from production areas to consumption centres increase costs throughout the value chain.
The organisation argued that these challenges, together with competition from heavily subsidised imported wheat, place additional pressure on local producers. It maintained that appropriate trade measures are necessary to ensure South African wheat farmers can compete fairly.
Grain SA also told the SAHRC that food security extends beyond food availability to ensuring households have the income and employment needed to purchase it. It warned that weakening domestic agricultural production would undermine rural economies and ultimately threaten South Africa’s long-term food security.
Doyer acknowledged that transformation within the grain industry remains an ongoing challenge, saying there is still “a long way to go” to build a more inclusive rural economy.
A shared responsibility
Grain SA concluded that realising the constitutional right to food requires cooperation across the entire food system, including government, producers, processors, retailers, input suppliers, researchers, civil society, and consumers.
“Farmers cannot be held solely responsible for consumer food prices, but without viable farmers, the country’s food security is placed at risk. A viable production base is not in conflict with food affordability; it is a prerequisite for it,” Doyer said.
