Cape Town - Ahead of the State of the Nation Address (Sona), the agriculture industry has pleaded with President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritise the energy crises in his address.
Chairperson of the DA’s Agriculture and Environmental Affairs standing committee, Andricus van der Westhuizen, said he hoped the president had plans to improve electricity availability for the country, at least for farmers who relied heavily on electricity for food production.
"We hope there will be incentives for South Africans, including farmers, to invest heavily in alternative energy sources, such as photovoltaic panels, as well as lower fixed costs of electricity infrastructure for farmers and so-called fixed energy charges," said Van Der Westhuizen.
Beside the electricity crisis, Van Der Westhuizen also expressed the need to invest in, and improve veterinary services, including the provision of vaccines and the enforcement of regulations that intend to improve bio-security and curb the spread of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
Agriculture agriculture economist, Wandile Sihlobo, said there were six factors likely to underpin the sector, particularly during the middle of this year, that need urgent attention.
These are: the impact of energy shortages and associated costs to businesses and consumers; the expansion of exports; land reform; the fallout from collapsing local administrations; a lack of progress on key regulations; and, the financing of the sector.
He said unless these challenges were addressed, the country’s agricultural sector won’t achieve the growth and job creation prospects it’s capable of.
"South Africa’s persistent power cuts are a significant challenge across the economy. The agricultural sector and food producers have not always been as vocal as, for example, the mining industry, about the impact on their businesses.
“This is likely to change this year. Power outages have started to disrupt the production of even essential food items, including potato chips processing, milling, and poultry meat processing. At primary production, farmers using irrigation systems face production challenges in the current environment," said Sihlobo.
He said there were disruptions across a range of food value chains. Importantly, this also brings extra costs to food companies and farmers, some of which could be transferred to the consumer over time.
"Consumer food price inflation is already elevated and is estimated to have averaged around 9% in 2022, from 6.5% in 2021, driven mainly by global agricultural commodity challenges," he said.
Looking at other issues that the country is faced with, Professor Amanda Gouws, from the department of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch, said she would like to hear the president address issues related to the National Health Insurance and Gender-Based Violence strategic plans, which she said were being delayed.
"One would like to know if we are going to have an NHI, because the government keeps on talking about it, but there’s no implementation. The great issue here is the lack of implementation of so many policies.
“The government is also not implementing the national strategic plan on GBV; consultation for this plan took place between 2018 and 2019, and here we are in 2023, with limited rollout," Gouws said.
Dr Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, also from Stellenbosch University, believes that the president must improve the quality and calibre of his government leaders.
"What the president needs to do is try and convince the nation that he is going to address issues that the country is facing. The government has spent the last two years identifying issues, but we see no change or policies addressing these issues.
“Everyone will be looking for a demonstrable indication that he has put the right people in positions of government and power to address these issues," said Schulz-Herzenberg.
Ramaphosa will deliver the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, February 9, at 7pm.