Agricultural supply chain company and Grain SA partner, Senwes, has warned that its latest results are already showing the significant impact on the agri-sector of current developments around expropriating farm land without compensation (EWC).
In the wake of the release of its latest results, a Senwes statement said that producers were reluctant to invest and spend in their own sector because of uncertainty over what was going to happen next year.
Of interest is parliament’s recent vote in favour of amending section 25 of the Constitution to allow for land seizure from farmers. 209 MPs voted in favour.
Senwes said the fallout for farming machinery sales had been telling as farmers, fearing that investing in hardware might be futile if their land was seized, were not investing in new equipment.
Senwes also said that grain supply to some of its bigger facilities in places like Hennenman in the Free State was showing a decrease in farm-to-silo delivery.
This, however, is most likely attributable to drought conditions across vast areas of arable land.
Despite its warnings that EWC could affect the country’s output of grain crops, Senwes recorded an annualised yield that was 6.8% up from last year’s figure.
The company recorded a year-to-end-October profit of R156m.
