From heavy government intervention leading up to South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, through two financial crises and other macroeconomic challenges, the agriculture sector has still managed to double its output between 1994 and 2025.

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) finds in a commemorative report on agriculture in South Africa in the democratic era that, despite significant events over the last three decades, the country’s agriculture sector has managed to expand successfully into more international markets, which has helped to mitigate local economic stagnation.

South Africa’s economic growth outpaced agriculture growth up to 2013, before agriculture started growing stronger than GDP. This trend continues.

Notably, significant yield improvements in key crops such as maize and soybeans have been made owing to advances in genetics and farming practices, as technology has advanced. Maize yields have nearly quadrupled since the early 1990s and South Africa has become self-sufficient in soybeans, which also benefits intensive livestock production.

The country’s fruit and tree nut production has also grown remarkably, as well have exports, benefitting from advantageous trade agreements with the EU and the UK.

Additionally, despite above-inflation wage increases in recents years, the number of agricultural workers has remained stable while agricultural production has continued to increase, indicating an improvement in labour productivity.

Farm income grew by 2.6 times, from about R140-billion in real value terms to about R350-billion, between 1993 and 2023, which the BFAP attributes to the strength of the market that buys agricultural produce – be it the final consumer in the retail store, firms procuring raw materials or export customers.

Total real sales for food and beverages increased from R234-billion in 1993 to R517-billion in 2023. Agroprocessing industries, on aggregate, outperformed the total manufacturing output both in value terms (2.7% vs 2.1%) and volume (1.7% vs 0.4%) terms during the democratic era.

Between 13.6% and 15.4% of South Africa’s economy is linked to agriculture.

“Strong demand for products ensures that prices remain supportive of continued investment in productive capacity in the supply of goods.

“Building a resilient and competitive agri-food system has as much to do with providing food and products at competitive and low prices for consumers as it does with ensuring businesses within the chain remain financially sustainable in an ever-changing global market,” the BFAP states.

In terms of resources such as land, the success of agriculture in South Africa is also remarkable, given that this is a semi-arid country with a weak natural resource base compared with other countries.

A 1993 census estimated South Africa’s total farmland area to be 97-million hectares out of a total 122-million hectares. Of this, only 77.5-million hectares were in agricultural use with registered title deeds after adjustments were made for farmland in the former homelands, forestry and nature conservation uses, as well as urban areas.

Since then, government has restored 4.4-million hectares of land to previous owners, compensated previous owners for 2.9-million hectares, redistributed 6.4-million hectares of land through programmes and acquired 2.5-million hectares of land.

Overall, almost a quarter of farmland previously owned by white landowners under Apartheid has been restored or redistributed – 19.2-million hectares, or 24.8%, of the total of all freehold farmland in South Africa – to black South Africans or moved to State ownership after 30 years.

In terms of trade, South African agriculture’s positive trade balance rests on an export portfolio that is skewed towards traditional markets in Europe and North America, but has become more diversified over time. There has been an increase in exports to other African countries, from 8% to 24% of all exports, for example.

Despite increases in most crop yields in the country over the period, several commodities have experienced a decline in area under cultivation over time, including sugarcane, cotton, groundnuts, and sorghum.

Although the specific reasons for the decline in each commodity vary, the underlying issue is the farmers' ability to achieve sustainable profit margins in the long term.

In the case of cotton, there has been some reinvestment in recent years.

The area under sorghum cultivation has remained relatively stable in recent years owing to a shortfall, with sorghum trading at import parity at a premium above maize.

It is also noteworthy that the sugar market, and consequently sugarcane, is the only agricultural market that has not deregulated and still operates within a single channel where millers and growers negotiate the price for sugar sold in the local market, which is significantly higher than the world price.

The BFAP says surplus sugar is “removed” from the local market and exported at a loss. Therefore, the local market requires tariff protection from imported sugar.

However, large volumes are still imported duty-free from Swaziland as a member State of the Southern African Customs Union. The decline of the sugar industry is complex and several reports have highlighted the challenges and potential solutions in greater detail.

Globally, sugar markets are severely distorted, directly or indirectly, through a range of trade policies and renewable energy policies.

Moreover, a range of different macroeconomic frameworks evolved with the political landscape over the last 30 years, including the Reconstruction and Development Programme and the work of the Macroeconomic Research Group.

While a first policy regime from 1910 aimed to support white farmers and supress farming by black farmers, a second policy regime up to 1990 was one of consolidation and expansion of the farmer support system for commercial farmers, encompassing the research, development and extension system, the provision of financial services including tax concessions and the provision of irrigation infrastructure.

A third policy regime has since tried to remove the barriers to participation by black farmers and build a more competitive agriculture sector through trade policy and land reform.

Many policies have shaped how the agriculture sector operates and what it aims to achieve - without, thankfully, notable decreases in total output. In fact, the sector has become more sustainable, more agile and more resilient, but the State still needs to address the dualism that continues to plague the sector as a result of the heavy hand of the past.