Opinion

The latest tractor sales figures released by the South African Agricultural Machinery Association showed that year-to-date tractor sales were significantly down from last year, with the number of tractors sold up to the end of September having declined 22% to 3 919 from 5 034 sold in 2018.

All things considered, the farming sector in South Africa has not performed too poorly in terms of job losses since the turn of the century. According to Statistics South Africa, employment stood at just under one million in 2001, before declining to about 660 000 in 2012.

Driven by shrinking arable land, a shift to the consumption of non-meat proteins, and several other factors, ersatz meat products are set to disrupt the lucrative global meat industry. According to management consultants AT Kearney, it is not a matter of if, but when, these products will appear on shelves.

There were two highlights at the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa’s (TAU SA) recent annual congress in Pretoria.

Long-term food security is set to suffer if the scourge of soil erosion is not brought under control. Dan Pennock, a professor in soil science at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, discusses the extent of the problem and the importance of good soil management.

Perhaps the single biggest mistake South Africa has made with land reform since 1994 has been to entrust a government department with not only the transfer of land, but also the responsibility to provide support to land reform beneficiaries.

The well-known saying that change happens slowly at first, and then all at once, is probably a misquote from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, which reads: “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

Natural selection is pivotal in adapting livestock farming to climate change in Africa and beyond, says Prof Charles T Kadzere of the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian reform’s Dohne Agricultural Development Institute.

Independent power producers, an independent water regulator, formalisation of the taxi industry, and hints about a state-subsidised agricultural insurance scheme are just some of the suggestions put forward by National Treasury in a new economic plan for South Africa.

Last year, Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agriculture industry association, released a statement announcing that in 2017, Italian organised crime generated a turnover of €21,8 billion (about R370 billion) from agriculture.

Increased use of technology and automation in agriculture carries with it the risk that certain farm jobs will become redundant. However, according to a new report published by the World Bank, ‘The Changing Nature of Work’, the use of certain digital technologies could make a meaningful contribution to improving employment opportunities in agriculture, especially in developing economies.

As details about South Africa’s economic mess becomes clearer, and government fails to respond with any clear plan to navigate the country out of debt, many conversations inevitably turn to a discussion about options for leaving South Africa, or, at the very least, sending money away to a safe harbour.