While President Cyril Ramaphosa did not address food security and the factors impacting the agricultural sector in much detail during his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) earlier this month, agricultural organisation Agri SA hopes Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will announce measures to protect the country’s food security in the national Budget to be presented on February 22.

The organisation says that with loadshedding being the most urgent threat to the nation’s farmers, government must be resolute in allocating resources to buttress farmers from its worst effects and ensure the sustainable production of food.

Agri SA acknowledges Ramaphosa’s efforts to solve the energy crisis, including by appointing a Minister of Electricity and declaring a State of Disaster; however, it believes the country’s food producers need concrete and practical budgetary and fiscal measures to assist in their plight.

In particular, Agri SA wishes Godongwana to announce higher rebates on diesel and petrol used for generators, incentives to promote grid-connected generation capacity and reconnection of off-grid systems, and the lowering or removal of cumbersome taxes on struggling agricultural industries – such as the excise taxes on tobacco, wine and beer, as well as the sugar tax.

Agri SA also expects the Minister to unpack the tax incentives for businesses to install rooftop solar panels, as announced by Ramaphosa during the SoNA, including special provisions for the agricultural sector.

Moreover, the organisation says the Budget must provide for the allocation of resources to building new infrastructure and repairing existing infrastructure, especially crumbling road and rail networks, to enable sectors such as agriculture to reliably supply food across the country. Agri SA deems this intervention as particularly urgent, since half of the country’s provinces have been battered by floods.

“We are deeply concerned about the confluence of challenges that have come together to make food production in South Africa especially difficult at this time. For the sake of the public that relies on the sector for sustenance, and for the workers who rely on [farming and food operations] for their livelihoods, these challenges must be prioritised in the budget.

“This is the only way to prevent more increases in food prices, food shortages and job losses in South Africa. Agri SA continues to work with urgency to engage stakeholders and find solutions to the pressing problems,” says Agri SA chief economist Kulani Siewya