Foreword

South Africa is currently in its rebuilding phase from the economic shocks of Covid-19. Agriculture is the one sector of the economy that maintained positive growth momentum in 2020 and into 2021, which policymakers identified as part of the sectors to drive economic recovery and job creation. This sector’s potential is also true for much of the African continent when one considers the constraints faced by the manufacturing sector, combined with challenges presented by domestication or regionalization of global supply chains in manufacturing. Decision-makers must position agriculture more deliberately as a sector that could contribute to economic growth and job creation.

Efforts to expand agricultural activity will involve several interventions. These include overcoming logistics and supply chain bottlenecks, improving the network infrastructure and governance in municipalities, and refining the regulatory environment to encourage private sector investment in underutilised land.

In essence, South Africa’s attempt to use agriculture as one of the sectors to drive economic growth and job creation means facing the land reform challenge head-on. Given previous experience, and as legal scholars have argued, the effort to amend the Constitution is not an appropriate intervention; instead, the focus should be on growth and investment-friendly approaches. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy toolbox to drive economic recovery and sustained growth is depleted, a reality that confronts many developing and emerging economies such as South Africa. Agriculture holds the potential to drive growth, create jobs, and restore confidence. This will require the government to remove regulatory constraints to growth, including those related to logistics and other infrastructure, improve governance at the municipality level, which is key to service delivery, and work closely with the private sector to expand production and international trading opportunities

Presented within our directory is a vast variety of product and service providers and potential partners for profitable farming. May this directory be an invaluable resource for your business and open further opportunities to flourish.

Stefan

Stefan Kemp

Editor | stefan@sanichepublishers.com