AGRICULTURAL output in 2022/23 was twice as much as in 1993/94, providing an indication of just how much the sector has grown, irrespective of the divergent views on the efficacy of government policies, said Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa.
He said this expansion had not only been driven by a few sub-sectors – livestock, horticulture and field crops had all seen strong growth. Some crops, most notably wheat and sorghum, had declined, but this had to do with changes in agroecological conditions and falling demand, not government policies.
The higher production had been underpinned mainly by new production technologies, better farming skills, growing demand (locally and globally), and progressive trade policy. The private sector had played a major role in this progress,…
