We don’t necessarily need a new strategic plan – we need to implement the one we have. Little or nothing has been done to realise the plan’s current goals, and it needs to be audited in detail to establish how much has actually been done. Key issues need to be identified. doesn’t help to have a new plan with the same problems. Forget politics – get down to business A griculture is probably the most over-politicised sector in the South economy, a ball with which senior politicians strive to score political points. Their judgements about it are often more emotional than fact-based.
The question remains: how high is agriculture on the government’s priority list? That the agriculture department has been left in the hands of junior ministers indicates that it’s low priority. It seems government is unwilling to provide the resources necessary to address current issues. Government needs to be challenged to prioritise agriculture. The sensitivity of agriculture and land affairs justifies giving the portfolio to a senior minister. Land reform in particular needs to be finalised speedily. O rganised agriculture needs to demand to be taken seriously. Recently I addressed Agri Northern Cape. The local agricultural MEC did not attend. Her office phoned the previous day, stating that she was ill. However, the MEC was seen shopping on the congress day in a Kimberley mall! Broken trust between organised agriculture and government needs to be healed immediately. In the meantime, organised agriculture needs to use its direct path to the president optimally. For all this to happen, Agri SA, the National African Farmers’ Union (NAFU) and TAU SA need to work together more closely. Learn from what has been achieved in the business sector through the formation of Business Unity Africa (BUSA). We need to make long-term investments, but can’t do so in the midst of so much uncertainty. farm is a business and it’s hard to do business in an arena filled with interference.
Agricultural debate needs to be refocused from politics to the concrete operational and industry issues which determine agriculture’s viability. Uncertainty threatens foreign investment ne of the key questions overseas investors ask banks is, “Where are you in the land reform process?” The issues we talk about in the agricultural sector are the same ones worrying international investors. This is a lever agriculture doesn’t use enough. We need to realise that uncertainty about landownership is mounting. Landownership rights are similar to mineral rights. Agriculture could learn much from the transformation of the mining sector and its negative impact on investor confidence.
