Supportive policy and infrastructure needed to improve agricultural harvest

Variable climatic conditions, macroeconomic fluctuations, trade wars and land reform policy uncertainty will remain some of the biggest factors impacting on the South African agriculture sector for the foreseeable future, according to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy’s (BFAP’s) agricultural outlook for 2018 to 2027. Investors may hold back on investment should land expropriation without compensation be actioned and, without continued investment, the value of agricultural exports could decline by 40% with potentially 30% of jobs in high-value export-oriented crop farming being lost in the short term, states the BFAP.