Finding Common Ground

Wandile Sihlobo

Description

‘My hope is that people can grow to appreciate this sector – its challenges and opportunities, but most importantly, the role agriculture can play in improving South Africa’s rural economy, creating jobs and bringing about much-needed transformation (or inclusive growth).’

Wandile Sihlobo is perfectly positioned to provide a well-rounded, accessible view of agriculture in South Africa. He spent his school holidays in the rural Eastern Cape, studied agricultural economics at university, has worked in private-sector agriculture, consulting with farmers across the country, and has been an adviser to government as part of South African policymaking bodies.

Finding Common Ground is a selection of key articles from Sihlobo’s regular Business Day column, framed with insightful commentary and context. The book covers the broad themes that have marked current discussions and outlines the challenges and opportunities faced by South Africa’s agricultural sector, including:

• The contentious and complex issue of land reform;
• The potential for new leadership to revive the sector;
• How agriculture can drive development and job creation;
• Cannabis as an exportable commodity;
• The urgent need for agricultural policy to address gender equity and youth involvement;
• Technological developments and megatrends that are underpinning agricultural development;
• The importance of trade in growing South Africa’s agriculture; and
• Key lessons that South Africa and other African countries can learn from one another.

Ultimately, Sihlobo is optimistic about the future of South Africa’s agricultural sector and shows us all – from policymakers to the general public – how much common ground we truly have.

Sujets

• Agronomie
• Agronomy for Sustainable Development
• Agriculture
• General
• Engineering
• Technology
• General officer
• Agricultural economics
• Sciences et techniques

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781770107175
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Finding Common Ground
Land, Equity and Agriculture
Wandile Sihlobo
PICADOR AFRICA

First published in 2020 by Picador Africa
an imprint of Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X19, Northlands
Johannesburg
2116
www.panmacmillan.co.za
ISBN 978 1 77010 716 8
e-ISBN 978 1 77010 717 5
© Wandile Sihlobo 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
With grateful thanks to Business Day for permission granted to reproduce articles that originally appeared in that publication.
Editing by Kelly Norwood-Young
Proofreading by Sean Fraser
Design and typesetting by Triple M Design, Johannesburg
Cover design by publicide
Author photograph courtesy of Agbiz

To all those who toil the land to ensure that we are clothed and have food on our tables


Contents
Preface
1 Land Reform in South Africa (2018–19)
2 New Leadership
3 Growing Employment through Agriculture
4 Cannabis Boom
5 Inclusivity in Agriculture
6 Agricultural Development
7 South African Agricultural Trade
8 Brief Observations on Agriculture in Africa
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
About the author


PREFACE
I never planned to be an agricultural economist. In fact, as far as I can recall, for the better part of my high-school years I did not even know there was such a career. I grew up in the former Transkei – a region that did not, and still does not, have vibrant agricultural activity.
What I saw while I was growing up was mostly smallholder farming, of the type where you wonder whether it is really farming , or if it’s just that someone has a garden as part of a plot of land.
I spent the school term in an urban environment, but during the school holidays, when all the family gatherings happened, we would flock back to our rural homes. Our family was scattered throughout the Eastern Cape, so I spent time in different towns: Lusikisiki, Engcobo, King William’s Town, East London and Stutterheim.
In Lusikisiki and Engcobo (small towns, with a population of less than 15 000 people combined), you’ll find the heartlands of smallholder farming. Here, I herded cattle during school holidays and gained first-hand experience of smallholder farming in our family fields (known in isiXhosa as ‘Amasimi’). By comparison, East London, King William’s Town and Stutterheim are relatively big towns (with populations of 267 007, 34 019 and 24 673, respectively). 1 Growing up, I encountered limited agricultural activity in these towns, although later, when I was already at university, I noticed that there are quite a number of commercial farming entities outside East London and Stutterheim (I don’t know how I missed this in my younger years!).
Generally speaking, I think a person’s view of agriculture is shaped by the environment that they grow up in, the schools they attend, and the information they have access to. Many people might not have a full sense of what the value chain, and industrial or commercial farming look like. The first time I encountered commercial agriculture was in high school, when I assisted a community poultry project (my aunt was a member) in Ndimbaneni location in Lusikisiki. It was the first time that I saw how commercial poultry projects were run in communities, and how they supplied the surrounding areas. The infrastructure and the professionalism of the management of the project were impressive. Most importantly, the project supplied the surrounding communities with affordable poultry, and was loved by many small businesses who got their stock from here.
But my work there was physically demanding: feeding chickens in the early mornings and evenings, and doing sales to community members during the day, so at that stage, I had no urge to pursue a career in agriculture. I also didn’t see agriculture as a particularly sensible career choice. From a young age, I noticed that, when people around me talked about agriculture, the conversation was mostly about the small, struggling farmer. It was only much later, with access to information, that I developed a full appreciation of commercial farming and the possibilities in such a space.
I was 17 when I matriculated in 2007, with plans to study towards a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting at the University of Fort Hare. This was partially influenced by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, which had promised to award me a scholarship, and by the fact that there are three accountants in my family who weren’t doing too badly for themselves. Also, at the time, it seemed like everyone around me was studying accounting, education, medicine or engineering. These are exactly the areas in which many of my cousins are involved today.
When I first arrived at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape, in 2008, I was placed in a residence with students in the agricultural sciences field who later became good friends. One of them was already a second-year student. These friendships gave me new insights into agricultural sciences and the day-to-day hustle of the academic work. One day, I sat in on a friend’s agricultural economics class, which gave me a view of the industry.
I had also started reading about the issues of rising global food prices, and the potential scramble for land in Africa. In 2008, agricultural news and discussions centred around increasing investments in Africa, and land grabs by multinational companies that were buying up resources on the continent as global food prices were rising. 2 For me, it was a fascinating time in geopolitics and economics. It was time to say: hold up, who’s producing the world’s food, and how is the global food system really set up? Also, what is South Africa’s place in all of this?
Further conversations with the agricultural science students, as well as the scholarships that were available, quickly persuaded me to change my area of study to a Bachelor of Science, majoring in agricultural economics and economics.
When I went home for a holiday, my parents picked up one of my transcripts and were rather surprised to see subjects like physics and chemistry on it. They asked me, ‘What does all this have to do with accounting?’ and I had to tell them that I had switched to agricultural science. There wasn’t anyone in my community who had studied anything similar so I wouldn’t have blamed them if they were worried about job prospects. Fortunately, they accepted my new direction quite easily, after I explained my reasons behind this change.
Alice is a small rural town, and I believe this influenced the approach of the University of Fort Hare’s professors in their teaching of agricultural sciences. The department’s philosophy during my time there was to emphasise rural development, with a smallholder-centric approach. At the time, given my own background, and with a growing desire to see improvement in agricultural activity in the former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, I enjoyed this focus and found it most relevant. I believe that these teachings and my experiences at Fort Hare, specifically the university’s commitment to rural development, set the stage for my career’s future focus. My work since then has been to advance this cause in various forums that I have been privileged to participate in.
Upon graduating, I joined Stellenbosch University in 2012 for a Master’s degree in agricultural economics. Some of the university’s academic leaders were the likes of the inimitable professors Nick Vink, Mohammad Karaan and Johan van Rooyen, who themselves had spent many years in the agricultural policymaking circles of South Africa. With the department focused more on agricultural policy, I was able to develop broader perspective around agricultural issues affecting South Africa. The hours I spent studying agricultural economic history gave me a deeper understanding of how South Africa’s modern agricultural sector (which is dualistic: commercial sector on the one hand, and smallholder sector on the other) came about. We also explored the policies and government incentives that underpinned this structure, with a key focus on deducing possible interventions to uplift the likes of former homelands and other regions of South Africa that have not seen progress in agricultural development.
It is also at Stellenbosch that I received training in international trade. I went on to write my Master’s thesis on this, under the supervision of Ms Lulama Ndibongo-Traub (who has become a great mentor and friend).
I started practising as an agricultural economist at Grain South Africa in 2013, covering a wide range of subjects – mainly grain markets, international trade, macroeconomics, and general agricultural policy. This, again, was an important period in my career, as I was working with experienced agricultural economists and other colleagues in the organisation. It was also at Grain South Africa that I began meeting with farmers – learning how the analysis of what we do in the office translates into decisions at farm level. My job required me to have a solid view on commodity price forecasts (maize, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat). Jozeph du Plessis, a grain farmer from the North West province town of Schweizer-Reneke, was part of the Grain South Africa executive team at the time and would always keep a note of my price forecasts. This was either to congratulate me later, or take me to task when they turned out wrong. This was fun, and during this grooming stage, it helped