President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the keynote address at Agri SA's yearly congress to be held later this week, with a focus on the theme of Growing Local.

Discussions at Agri SA's yearly congress will focus on the growing challenges facing the agriculture sector and chart a course to ensure a sustainable future for farming in South Africa.

Over the past three years, the agricultural sector has shown enormous resilience and continues to be a vital contributor to economic growth and employment. During this period, the sector added 250 000 more jobs, contributed more than 2.4% to gross domestic product and brought in R43-billion in export revenue.

These remarkable achievements have made the sector indispensable in the country’s effort to combat poverty and unemployment, especially in rural parts of the country, says Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede.

However, despite these successes, the gathering takes place amid a difficult period for the industry. South Africa’s farmers have endured extreme volatility over the past three years beginning with the supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Local factors including unrest in July 2021, torrential floods in April this year and deteriorating critical infrastructure have only added to the troubles facing the embattled sector.

"This confluence of factors has led to a steep increase in input costs for farmers, with serious implications for consumers who already face a difficult economic climate," notes Van der Rheede.

In recent months, the sector has faced additional challenges including threats to market access, critical failures in pestilence and disease management, rising water tariffs, inaction on the Rural Safety Strategy even as violent crime in rural communities persists, escalating load-shedding, and the advancement of legislative proposals that undermine investor confidence, most notably the Expropriation Bill.

In this context, the Agri SA 2022 Congress presents a critical opportunity to gather the leading thinkers in the sector, government and the economy to find solutions to the pressing problems undermining the nation’s present and future food security, he says.

Over two days, the industry will address the role of the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Masterplan as a policy vehicle for growing local, the failure of critical infrastructure, the need to strengthen the value chain, the centrality of employment creation and skills transfers, and the need to build strong farming communities.

Other notable speakers will include Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza, Transnet CEO Portia Derby, Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer, Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, as well as the leaders of Agri SA provincial affiliates and leaders of the commodity and business chambers.

This year’s congress is a critical platform for the sector - its future trajectory hangs in the balance. If South Africa cannot address our present barriers to growth and global competitiveness, we risk the decline of a labour-intensive sector that has contributed disproportionately to the economy through the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent crises.

"Agri SA is confident that, with national and sectoral leaders together, this year’s congress will put forth concrete action steps and build a consensus amongst key stakeholders to ensure that South Africa maintains and expands its ability to grow sustainably and inclusively local for generations to come," Van der Rheede says.