Inclusion is no longer a moral add-on, but a growth strategy competitiveness issue, agriculture minister John Steenhuisen said on Thursday.
“Inclusive participation expands the producer base, strengthens rural economies and builds resilience into value chains,” Steenhuisen told an FNB round-table in Cape Town, where he outlined how this year’s G20 outcomes can deliver tangible benefits for local producers, exporters and agribusinesses.
“That is how we turn policy into throughput, more hectares under production, more throughput in plants, and more SA products on global shelves,” Steenhusien said.
SA’s G20 presidency has focused the Agriculture Working Group on four strategic pillars: inclusive market participation, technological innovation, climate resilience and empowering women and youth.
Steenhuisen stressed that these were not theoretical exercises, but “practical pathways” that farmers, firms and financiers could act on.
On trade, the G20’s commitment to science-based standards and regulatory transparency bolsters efforts to modernise SA’s export regime.
Steenhuisen said this will help unlock new markets and reduce barriers for agricultural exporters — from wine and citrus to grains and animal products.
“It supports the work we are doing to reduce technical barriers, modernise certifications and keep supply chains open, especially in a world where logistics and geopolitics can quickly spill into food markets,” he said.
On climate resilience, outcomes from the G20’s meeting of agricultural chief scientists, hosted in SA earlier this year, will accelerate the deployment of water-efficient irrigation, drought-tolerant cultivars and digitised advisory systems.
“For a farmer in North West or Karoo, that maps to decisions about cultivar choice, planting windows and risk management, less theory, more usable information,” he said.
Food affordability also featured prominently. The G20 food security task force prioritised early-warning systems and targeted support for vulnerable households.
In SA, this dovetails with efforts to use better data to anticipate shocks, co-ordinate public-private responses in the grain and livestock sectors and protect poor households when prices spike, Steenhuisen said.
For agribusinesses and financial institutions, Steenhuisen flagged three clear signals emerging from the G20 year: policy tailwinds for open, predictable agri-trade; a faster lane for climate-smart innovation; and a growing premium on inclusion and resilience.
He pointed to SA’s efforts to diversify markets, such as securing new avocado export protocols to China, as examples of “planning for markets” rather than “planning for walls,” a reference to protectionist import bans that risk retaliation and higher food prices.
“SA agriculture is resilient and outward-looking. Give our producers fair rules, reliable infrastructure, workable finance and clear market signals, and they will do the rest. That is the spirit we are taking into the final stretch of the G20 year,” he said.
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