The agricultural sector – which contributes just under R270 billion annually to South Africa’s gross domestic product and which is already under pressure from the ongoing drought – could be hard hit by the recent introduction of a minimum wage increase.
This is according to Jahni de Villiers, labour and development head at AgriSA, following the announcement by the Department of Labour (DoL) of a 5.6% increase in the minimum wage for farm and forestry workers. The increase kicks in on March 1 and is valid until February 28, 2019.
She pointed out that the agricultural sector had shed 109 000 jobs so far in the last quarter of the 2017/2018 financial year and was 71 000 jobs down from the same quarter in 2016/2017.
“Various factors contributed to this decline, one of which is the drought affecting labour-intensive fruit farms in the Western Cape. Fruit growing organisation Hortgro estimates that a further 45 000 jobs could be lost directly due to the drought,” De Villiers said.
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