WANDILE SIHLOBO: Agriculture master plan needs to get off the ground

What began as a promising path to boosting inclusive growth in SA’s agriculture has become mired in unending discussions and the implementation effort has been hazy at best.

In May 2022 then agriculture, land reform & rural development minister Thoko Dididza launched SA’s agriculture & agro-processing master plan, co-created by the government, organised agriculture, labour and other stakeholders.

The document outlined the main constraints on SA’s agriculture and agroprocessing, and presented solutions. The distinct aspect was its focus on various commodity value chains and the mapping of commodity corridors across the country.

What followed was the creation of structures that monitor implementation and processes across the various commodities.

The master plan is critical because, while SA’s agriculture gross value added has more than doubled since the dawn of democracy, there is still potential for growth. But various inefficiencies remain, increasing transaction costs for farming businesses and constraining expansion.

Fortunately, when agriculture minister John Steenhuisen began his term he recognised the value of the master plan and continued to champion it.

But there is now growing criticism from some sections of the farming community against the plan, claiming it lacks an inclusive approach. These views are misguided. After all, the master plan was co-created by most agricultural stakeholders.

Importantly, what remains fundamental is whether the plan addresses the sector’s main constraints. We believe the ideal path is to support its implementation and to argue for it to be updated as implementation continues. Seeking to start a new process will not help the sector’s growth ambitions.

That said, the implementation has not been as encouraging as many had hoped. There are pockets of progress, but not with a co-ordinated focus. One reason for this may be the lack of focus and co-ordinated, consistent push from both the government and the private sector.

Often, discussions of broad policies and programmes take place in Pretoria, but the actual implementation of the plans is the responsibility of provincial and local officials. Placing sufficient attention on educating and training officials on new plans and ensuring their buy-in at such levels is critical for the success of any government-led programmes.

It is possible that in many provinces the efforts of provincial officials do not match the enthusiasm of the political leadership in Pretoria. Such disconnects may discourage farmers and agribusinesses and slow the implementation of programmes such as the master plan.

For much of 2025 discussions about the master plan were revived only after the department of agriculture sought to review its progress and restore stakeholder engagement. Before that the focus nationally was primarily on geopolitical matters and on the impact of US import tariffs on SA agricultural exports.

While such discussions are valuable and central to the sector’s growth, they need not be the dominant focus to the extent that insufficient time is given to long-running programmes that are critical to the sector’s success. SA still needs to deal with animal diseases, inadequately maintained roads, inefficiencies in rail, rural crime, inefficient registration of agrochemicals and inept municipalities, among other things. Many commodity-specific matters require our attention.

Moreover, in the context of inclusive growth, the political leadership in the department of land reform & rural development has done little to release government-owned land – with title deeds – to deserving black farmers so they can participate in agriculture on a commercial basis. In this context it is probably fair to argue that they too have constrained the implementation of the master plan.

While it is crucial to engage with geopolitics, there are many domestic issues that also deserve attention, including the master plan. It should be implemented.

• Sihlobo is chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA and a senior fellow in Stellenbosch University’s department of agricultural economics.