Wandile Sihlobo, agricultural economist, writes that SA’s farm jobs were up 2% y/y in the second quarter of 2023, with 894,000 people employed.

This was the highest farm employment level since the last quarter of 2016 and was well above the long-term agricultural employment average of 780,000. From a regional perspective, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were the significant drivers of this employment. The robust production conditions of various field crops, forestry and aquaculture were behind the improvement in agricultural jobs in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the livestock industry saw modest improvement, which was unsurprising as the industry was still dealing with the tail-end effects of the rough period of foot-and-mouth disease and higher feed costs. At the start of the season, production was threatened by persistent load shedding. Still, the various interventions to ease the load-shedding burden on farmers, such as load curtailment, expansion of the diesel rebate to the food value chain, and private sector investment in alternative energy sources, all supported the production conditions. The key challenges the sector faces are rising geopolitical tensions, deteriorating infrastructure, weakening municipalities, crime, and energy supply which all influence farm profitability and job prospects.

• Read Wandile Sihlobo’s article in full at Fin24
• Lees ook, Styging in minimum loon wurg groei in landbousektor, by Maroela Media

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