SA agriculture has a plan to unleash growth, but it needs revitalised focus, implementation

South Africa’s farming sector still has the potential to expand and increase its output. Government land, now being released with title deeds, is one such avenue for expansion.But it will require capital injection into those farms and training for some of the new commercial farmers. For this reason, partnerships between government, organised agriculture, agribusinesses and labour, among other social partners, remain more important than before.The farming sector has spent years refining various partnership models, with the most recent being the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan (AAMP), launched in May 2022. The AAMP not only prioritised inclusion, but also identified key areas that constrain growth across the sector and, when addressed, would unlock broader growth.The AAMP was never fully implemented. Still, a closer look at it and consideration of what it proposes continue to convince us that it remains a viable pathway for partnership in the sector.Of course, as time has passed and implementation has remained incomplete, some fatigue has set in. When various stakeholders begin to doubt whether it can take off, that doesn’t mean they are despondent about its promise, but about the social partners’ commitment to it.At a time like today, where the avenues to grow agriculture are clear and include boosting exports, addressing port congestion and delays, embracing new seed cultivars, partnering on land reform, addressing the animal and plant health challenges and fighting stock theft and crime, the room for partnership across the various commodities is essential.Spirit of collaborationThe spirit of collaboration also needs to extend beyond Pretoria, as it has been, and be channelled to provincial and local structures. The most efficient way to do this is to revitalise the focus on the AAMP, not abandon it. A fresh start to any new plan may take more time and, most importantly, end up with the same conclusions as the existing AAMP.The current document isn’t ideologically driven and wasn’t created by a single stakeholder. It was a collaborative, extensive process with broad consultation. It is also backed by academic and deep value-chain insights for each commodity, outlining the challenges that slow growth and how to address them.What remained missing was devoted, continuous focus from all stakeholders, particularly the document’s signatories. To convince those still unconvinced about the AAMP, we need results. Stakeholders will then see that their views and challenges are reflected in implementation efforts.The minimal implementation may have created the impression that the AAMP addresses only particular issues for some stakeholders, not the entire sector, leading to discontent. To address this, we should renew focus and implementation and accommodate new views as we observe and gain insights during implementation. Importantly, the AAMP may have a better chance of being quickly absorbed into the planning of provincial government structures and farmer associations than if we went back to the drawing board to develop a new plan to support growth in the sector.Animal farmFor much of last year, and this year, the South African farming sector was absorbed in foot-and-mouth disease challenges and other animal health matters, along with export expansion efforts. The coming year will probably present another challenge: the El Niño-induced drought. These events typically shift the focus of the government and other sector stakeholders away from long-term plans such as the AAMP.As we head into the probable challenging 2026-27 summer season, we need to be cognisant of this challenge, apportion resources and energy well and avoid using it as an excuse to delay policy interventions that will help in the long term.Through this sequencing of interventions and collaborations, we can revitalise processes such as the AAMP for the good of the sector and clearly demonstrate that these plans address the core issues all stakeholders face. DM