The South African government has reaffirmed its unwavering support to the agriculture sector, and pledged to do everything within its means to ensure its sustainability and growth.
Delivering the keynote address at the AgriSA congress, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister, Thoko Didiza, applauded the agricultural and farming sector for its contribution to the country’s balance of trade, addressing the unemployment crisis and, above all, ensuring the nation’s food security.
She said agriculture is vital to the economy as the goods, products and services the sector produces feeds the nation.
“Agriculture is also one of the economy’s best performing sectors in terms of contribution to gross domestic product.”
She described sectoral master plans, such as those for the poultry and sugar industries, as well as the Agriculture and Agro-processing sector, as “growth enhancing measures”.
The minister said that importing goods that could otherwise be produced domestically was a lost opportunity not only for the sector’s growth and expansion, but for job creation.
