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Wandile Sihlobo, Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA (Agbiz), writes that SA’s agriculture in 2024 can be viewed as a “mixed” year.
Indeed, GDP figures will show a sharp contraction in agricultural fortunes in the year. But a deep dive shows a more nuanced picture of mixed performance. The field crops and livestock subsectors, for example, had their fair share of challenges, while the horticulture subsector had a better year. A midsummer drought led to a 23% decline in SA’s 2023-24 summer grains and oilseeds. Animal disease continued to be a big challenge for farmers. It is understandable because there have been various cases of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, African swine fever in pigs, and avian influenza in poultry over the past three years. A positive development in 2024, though not agriculture-specific, was the improvement in electricity supply. It contributed to the sector and partly to the robust horticulture production. Sihlobo comments that “As we start 2025, the sector has renewed optimism regarding expected better rainfall and improvements on the animal disease control front. This year’s focus should remain on the opening of export markets, improvement of the network industries, and improving municipality performance.”
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