Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa > South Africa’s agriculture industry rallies after drought

South Africa: South Africa’s agriculture industry rallies after drought

2017/04/06

Signs of a brighter outlook come next a lengthy drought, which has significantly pushed down production in the completed three years and continues to impact much of the eastern part of the continent and the Horn of Africa.

Welcome rains in late summer and autumn brought some respite for South Africa’s agricultural producers towards the end of 2016, helping to boost yields and improving the chances of recovery next a two-year contraction.

While still in marginally negative territory, the sector registered its smallest quarterly contraction in two years in the fourth quarter of 2016, paving the way for bigger harvests and a stronger performance this year.


Improvements taking hold

South Africa’s agricultural production, inclunding the forestry and fishing segments, declined for eight consecutive quarters through to the end of 2016, according to data issued by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in March.

The sector contracted by 20.1% in the second quarter of 2015 at its weakest, but showed significant signs of development by the latter half of 2016. Results for the fourth quarter were by far the strongest of the last two years, with negative increase reduced to 0.1%.

While the continued downturn did not see the sector register any contribution to GDP increase, negative or otherwise, in the second half of the year, in each of the initial two quarters its contribution contracted by 0.2%.

Agriculture did make gains in employment in the fourth quarter, according to an extra Stats SA statement issued in February, with 38,000 jobs added out of 235,000 across the broader economy.

Employment rose by 6.9% year-on-time(y-o-y), with the number of positions available across the industry reaching 919,000 by the end of 2016. Again, most of the gains were made in the final quarter.

Brighter outlook

Based on preliminary estimates, the coming year may finally bring about positive increase for the sector, heralding a definitive recovery.

South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee has estimate a maize harvest of 13.9m tonnes for 2017, up 78.9% on last year’s yield. Meanwhile, increases of between 23% and almost 400% were predicted for sunflower seeds, soybeans, sorghum, dry beans and groundnuts.

Resurgent optimism has, in turn, been reflected in the area under plantation. A total of 3.97m ha are currently being cultivated, approximately 720,000 ha additional than in 2016.

Positive sentiment has trickled down into other segments of the agri-business community, according to the results of the new Agricultural Business Chamber survey of sectoral confidence.

The Agbiz/IDC Agri-business Confidence Index was up two points to 57 in the initial quarter, well above the 50-point threshold that indicates expectations of expansion. The index has presently been in positive territory for three consecutive quarters, tracking the gradual improvements recorded in agricultural production.

Pressure on prices

While output of key crops are expected to be far higher this time– with the total harvest from South Africa’s six major crops estimate to increase by 72% – increased yields will likely dampen returns for growers as bulges develop in the market.

Much of the maize harvest was brought in instantly, triggering a glut in production, which in turn pushed down prices. Quotes were below R2000 ($154.1) per tonne in early March, compared to roughly $430 a year before.

Though proving effective in reducing food inflation – a major component of the consumer price index – weak commodities prices could leave growers increasingly burdened with debts accumulated over the completed three years of drought and low production.

Longer term, experts have as well predicted that climate change will have an increasingly adverse impact on the country’s primary producers, who will need to adapt if they are to maintain output.

Related Articles
  • KPMG's South Africa bosses purged over Gupta scandal

    2017/09/17 World auditor KPMG cleared out its South African leadership en masse on Friday next damning findings from an internal investigation into work done for businessmen friends of President Jacob Zuma. KPMG's investigation into its work for the Guptas, accused by a public watchdog of improperly influencing government contracts, identified no evidence of crimes or corruption, but found that work done for Gupta family firms "fell considerably short of KPMG's standards", the auditor said in a statement.
  • Zimbabwe Election Commission keen to avoid Kenyan situation

    2017/09/10 Zimbabwe’s election commission says it is keen to avoid a repeat scenario of what happened in Kenya where the presidential polls were nullified last week. Speaking through its chairperson Justice Rita Makarau, the election body said it will conduct next year’s elections in accordance with the country’s electoral laws.
  • Kenya, Nigeria & S. Africa: biggest winners of Google's Africa tech training

    2017/09/09 Alphabet Inc’s Google aims to train 10 million people in Africa in online skills over the next five years in an effort to make them additional employable, its chief executive said on Thursday. The U.S. technology giant as well hopes to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, a company spokeswoman said. Google’s pledge marked an expansion of an initiative it launched in April 2016 to train young Africans in digital skills. It announced in March it had reached its initial target of training one million people.
  • Submarine cable deployed in Angola to link Africa to South America

    2017/09/09 The project of deploying the initial submarine telecommunication cable in the South Atlantic ocean linking Africa to South America has been launched in Angola’s capital Luanda. The launch of the fibre-optic South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) follows months of marine survey that was completed by multinational telecommunications company Angola Cables in April.
  • UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010

    2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.