by invitation
Developing a proper
farmer support system
Thereis nosingle,genericsolution
tofarmersupport.Thetypeand
scopeofsupportneededdiffersfrom
onecountrytothenextanddepends
tosomedegreeonthesocio-economic
dynamicsineachcountry.It alsostands
toreasonthathigh-incomecountriesare
generallyina betterpositiontoprovide
supporttofarmers,comparedwithlower-
incomecountries,wheregovernment
spendingmightfocusonsocialsupport.
Accordingtotheclassificationsystem
usedbytheUNandtheWorldBank,
whichclassifiescountriesintohigh-,
middle-,andlower-incomesegments,
Africais theonlycontinentwithouta
high-incomecountry.SouthAfricais rated
themostindustrialisedeconomyonthe
continent,andholdsthemostpotential
formovingoutofthemiddle-income
segmentintothehigh-incomesegment.Growthasperthestate’splan
Thegrowthanddevelopmentpaththe
SouthAfricangovernmentintendsto
followtogrowtheeconomyandthereby
increasegrossdomesticproductpercapita,
is containedintheNational
DevelopmentPlan(NDP).
Oneoftheaimsofthe
NDPis toestablishrural
economiesthatfully
participateinthelarger
economy.Thiswillbe
achieved,accordingtothe
NDP,bybetterintegration
ofruralareas,successful
landreform,infrastructure
development,jobcreation
andpovertyalleviation.
It alsoseekstoaddressthe
viciouscycleofpovertymany
peoplelivinginruralareas
findthemselvestrappedin,and
reducethenumberofpeopleliving
inextremepovertytozeroby2030.
DuringtheStateoftheNation
Addressearlierthisyear,President
CyrilRamaphosaoutlinedhow
hisadministrationwouldseek
toachievefastereconomic
growththroughaccelerated
landreform,amongstothers.Ramaphosaalsobemoanedthefactthat,with
only 10 yearsleft,toolittlehadbeendoneto
achievethetargetssetintheNDPfor2030.
Inordertojump-startthestagnant
economicgrowthrate,SouthAfricaneeds
properimplementationoflong-termgoals,
andthecountryhastodevelopa high-
levelvisionforagrarianreformrooted
inthesuggestionsmadeintheNDP.ChallenGes
Due to the low economic growth rate over the
past few years, South Africa has struggled
to make meaningful progress on addressing
unemployment and rising inequality.
Poor economic conditions have also
contributed to the fast pace of urbanisation;
however, as a result of the unemployment
crisis, urban areas no longer necessarily
offer better job prospects than rural areas.
The food system offers many opportunities
for growth, and should play a key role in
the structural economic transformation
of lower- and middle-income countries,
in particular, as a pathway to lift people
out of absolute poverty and hunger.
South Africa’s dual economy, which
is characterised in the farming sector,
for example, by a well-developed
and sufficiently funded commercial
sector on the one hand, and a poorly
supported smallholder and subsistence
sector on the other hand, also poses
a unique set of challenges.
To address some of these challenges, South
Africa has, for the past 30 years, for the most
part, focused on import substitution and
export promotion, as well as on job creation
through investing more in urban areas.
However, this strategy has failed to
solve the country’s economic woes. One
reason for this failure has been the fact
that the bulk of the population who are
affected by poverty, on a percentage per
population basis, is based in rural areas.
In addition to this, there has been a decline
in the mining sector, and manufacturing
has also not performed as envisaged.
Relying solely on exports as a strategy
to achieve new sources of growth means
there is incomplete conversion between the
rural and urban manufacturing sector.
Top-performing countries in the high-6 farmer’sweekly 30 August 2019
According to Prof Mandi
Rukuni, a development
analyst and director of
the Barefoot Education
for Africa Trust, who
was the keynote
speaker at the 2019
Agricultural Research
Symposium in Pretoria,
South Africa needs to
develop clearer and
more cohesive policies
to direct government
and the private sector’s
involvement in growing
the agriculture sector to
promote social change.
The views expressed in our weekly
opinion piece do not necessarily
reflect those of Farmer’s Weekly.
For more information, email
Prof Mandi Rukuni at
[email protected].