The Department of Agriculture (DoA) has been allocated R7.6-billion in funding for the 2025/26 financial year, which is a reduction from the prior year’s R7.9-billion allocation.

Over the medium-term expenditure framework, the DoA’s budget is, however, expected to increase by 1.2% a year to R8.2-billion by 2027/28.

The DoA plans to spend 58%, or R4.4-billion, of its allocation through transfers and subsidies, including conditional grants to provinces and households, departmental entities and other agencies.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said during a Parliamentary budget vote on July 8 that the 2025/26 budget would focus on supporting four programmes: administration; agricultural production, biosecurity and natural resources management; food security and support; and economic development, trade and marketing.

He added the budget recognises the crossroads that South African agriculture is at, where there is extraordinary potential for the sector to create jobs and drive economic growth, particularly in rural communities, if risks such as high input costs, biosecurity failures, land degradation, weak infrastructure, uneven access to markets, international shocks and climate change can be addressed.

Steenhuisen said the separation of agriculture from the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform already marks a more responsive era in agricultural policy, towards a food system that is inclusive, competitive and sustainable.

“Smallholder farmers remain locked out of opportunities, while there is persistent food insecurity in households. This budget is designed to change that trajectory. It is grounded in seven key priorities including partnerships for growth, a modern and progressive legislative environment, more effective farmer support, better biosecurity oversight, improved food security and advocacy for a growing sector.”

SPENDING PRIORITIES

The DoA’s first programme relating to administration has been allocated R973-million for the 2025/26 financial year, comprising 12.8% of the total budget.

Steenhuisen confirmed the programme aimed to streamline key systems within the department, including digital integration, procurement oversight and keeping officials accountable for performance.

The second programme on biosecurity and natural resources management has been allocated R2.5-billion in 2025/26, comprising 33% of the total budget for the year.

This programme will improve oversight of livestock production, game farming and animal and plant health, and includes support to the Agricultural Research Council, Onderstepoort Biological Products entity and the Perishable Products Exports Control Board.

Planned performance targets under Programme 2 for the financial year include the establishment of six hemp demonstration sites, development of a draft greenhouse-gas emission reduction plan for agriculture, research on efficient irrigation technology for smallholder providers, scaling the work of the National Biosecurity Hub at the University of Pretoria and to conduct animal disease risk surveillances for foot-and-mouth disease, among others.

“We are launching the national biosecurity compact, with predetermined outbreak protocols and infrastructure development commitments, as well as new veterinary appointments to help manage future outbreaks before they escalate,” Steenhuisen explained.

The third programme on food security and support has been allocated R3.3-billion in 2025/26, comprising 43% of the total budget. The majority, or 88%, of this allocation will go towards transfers and subsidies, including conditional grants under the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme and transfers to the Land Bank for its blended finance scheme.

Some targets set under Programme 3 are the approval of the 2024 to 2029 National Food and Nutrition Security Plan by the Minister, getting a National Food and Nutrition Security Council adopted and functional, supporting 100 producers through the blended finance scheme and having 800 new students enrolled at agricultural colleges.

Steenhuisen pointed out only 36.5% of South Africa’s households were food secure, while nearly 18% experienced severe food insecurity. The department planned to scale up community and school garden projects and education on home food production, as part of the programme’s efforts.

Moreover, Programme 4 on economic development, trade and marketing has been allocated R833-million for the year, including transfers to the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC).

Some of the DoA’s planned targets for the programme include a report on the implementation of the Agri Black Economic Empowerment Fund, five bilateral engagements in which agriculture participates, six multilateral engagements in which agriculture participates and 300 smallholder farmers being capacitated in agricultural marketing.

Steenhuisen said the DoA was prioritising the expansion of existing markets and entry into new markets in respect of exports, as well as the launch of an agricultural digital platform and producer support portal.

“We are reigniting technical support at farm-gate level. We will also introduce more auditing reviews and accountability measures for nonperforming entities.

“This budget is more than a set of figures, but a statement of intent and a commitment to build a more inclusive agriculture sector that is youth-driven, science-based, climate-smart and inclusive. It is also a budget that recognises that small producers are just as vital as commercial-scale producers,” Steenhuisen added.

PARTY RESPONSES

The budget received mixed responses during the budget vote, with parties such as the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), United African Transformations (UAT) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) having rejected the budget and the Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Front Plus, African National Congress, ActionSA, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) having accepted the budget.

MKP’s main concerns related to South Africa’s “focus on exports rather than domestic food security” and that “white farmers remain the biggest beneficiaries of exports”.

The EFF, like many of the other parties, was concerned about the failure of the Land Bank to effectively implement and monitor the blended finance scheme, especially since it was meant to uplift black farmers and drive transformation in the sector.

While ActionSA did express support for the budget, it lamented the lower allocation from the fiscus and the DoA’s history of wasteful expenditure and intended beneficiaries not receiving support.

The ACDP’s concerns included uncertainty about the bird flu vaccination and how it would impact on people once the meat starte being consumed, while UAT raised alarm about the DoA's inadequate fight against hunger and the insufficient impact of black economic empowerment efforts.

Among the supportive parties, the DA lauded the budget for being visionary but wished more recognition could be given to farm murders, while the IFP commended the budget’s outlined priority areas, albeit with questions about whether it recognised the scale and complexity of the challenges facing the sector.

For the PA, the DoA’s budget represented a vital step to transforming the agriculture sector, particularly from a smallholder farmer and subsistence farming perspective. The party called for more transparency on food prices, urging the NAMC to play a more proactive role in providing policymakers with actionable data on food pricing to help keep costs as low as possible.

In response, Steenhuisen said some of the concerns stemmed from policies having been approved at Parliament level and must be addressed accordingly, not by the DoA.

He concluded that South Africa was working hard on its biosecurity approach, including being self-sufficient in vaccine production for the country’s most prominent livestock diseases.