Agriculture panel lays blame for policy, narrative troubles at government’s feet

South Africa’s agriculture sector is in “deep trouble”, and much of its challenges can be blamed on government inefficiency and instability brought on by contested policy positions.

This is according to Sernick Group chair and member of the advisory panel on land reform, Nick Serfontein. He was speaking at the Nation in Conversation Panel at the NAMPO Harvest Day gathering in Bothaville, Free State, on Thursday.

The panel at the largest annual agriculture sector gathering in the southern hemisphere took place nearly a year to the day after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s explosive visit to the White House in Washington, where US President Donald Trump slammed his delegation with false claims of a white genocide and state-backed land confiscations.

Serfontein said agriculture in South Africa was in “deep trouble”, despite the fact that some commodities are performing well. Russia’s war in Ukraine and the dysfunctional government were huge impediments, especially at the local government level, he said.

“Agriculture in South Africa today is in deep trouble. Deep, deep, deep trouble. I’m not talking about all the commodities. There are commodities that are doing fantastically, but generally, agriculture in South Africa is in deep trouble.

“There are many external factors, like the Ukraine war, but one of the biggest constraints and negatives is the dysfunctional government,” he said.

During the panel, Agbiz agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo, who sat next to Serfontein, chimed in to say “especially local government”, and while Serfontein agreed, he doubled down, saying, “but then, national government as well”.

“In every crisis, there are opportunities. I think we need to show the resilience and the courage to start doing things differently. I think this year has been a wake-up call for all of us to start doing things differently.”

Agriculture has been beset with challenges, including the foot-and-mouth outbreak, the pressure that the war in Ukraine has placed on fertiliser supply, the tariffs introduced by Trump last year, and the US-Iran war, which blocked the Strait of Hormuz and put pressure on the Brent crude oil price.

Prof Johan Kirsten said when the Nation In Conversation Panel started in 2013, it sought to bring a message of clarity to ordinary South Africans on the land expropriation question. He said that while different subsectors read certain data trends differently, the entire sector needs the same policy certainty.

“Agriculture is, by definition, so clever and good at fragmented voices. And sometimes the voice is the same, but it’s just a different colour, or a different church, or a different town, or a different commodity.”

Sihlobo said the agriculture sector needed to get on the same page when it came to communicating messages to the global agriculture market, as confusion around policy and advanced misinformation campaigns had severe consequences for exports.

“Part of the communication is what ended up almost hurting us in the US market. There was political stuff that was happening, but also the messaging that we were putting out about the sector being in crisis and all of the attacks that were happening in the sector.

“There are attacks that are happening, but we had put the message into overdrive to an extent that there are those that are importing from the citrus sector and the other industries to the US, which were ending up in a situation where they were suffering from the messaging that was coming from other corners of South African agriculture.”

Business journalist Helena Wasserman said while the White House visit was a damaging moment in a couple of ways, it was positive that farmers stood up and set the record straight to Trump about the narrative. However, she said the issues are more complex than that.

“Agriculture has to be very clear about what it wants from government and what it can achieve through public sentiment, which other industries have shown us is not much. You can have the whole of South Africa behind something, and many of the politicians, maybe most of the politicians, but government isn’t always a rational player. So, which of these agricultural-specific issues need to go to the Constitutional Court, or need legal action? And maybe I’m just a bit cynical about this, but I do think that narrative isn’t enough. There needs to be a proper strategy to see where the results can be achieved.”

Veteran journalist and political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela said perpetrators of proven false misinformation alleging “white genocide” should be prosecuted, as they harmed the county, its social order, and undermined its economy.

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