For the first quarter of 2025, South Africa’s agricultural exports reached $3.36 billion, which translates to a 10% increase year-on-year, says Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen.
This is due to the work that government has been doing in expanding market access and defending trade over the past year.
“We facilitated new access for avocados to China, maize to Japan and India, beef to Iran, and table grapes to the Philippines and Vietnam. We managed a quick resolution to Botswana’s temporary ban on South African maize and wheat, reopening the border within two weeks.
“We were part of the presidential delegation to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in China, secured protocols for wool, dairy and meat exports, and participated in high-level delegations to Davos, Japan, and Berlin,” Steenhuisen said at his department’s post budget media briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday.
In addition, South Africa had formal bilateral engagements with counterparts from the G7, African Union and G20, to advance the country’s market access and biosecurity agenda.
Steenhuisen outlined the strides the department had made in expanding market access, restoring biosecurity, delivering targeted farmer support, fighting food insecurity and empowering young people in the sector.
He said over the past year the government had prioritised biosecurity as the world witnessed an increase in animal and plant disease risks, making it no longer a technical matter but an economic and national imperative.
“Over the past year, we have established the National Biosecurity Compact and a Biosecurity Council, which bring together scientists, industry experts and officials to coordinate outbreak responses.
“We have deployed animal health technicians to vaccinate against Foot and Mouth Disease in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as adopted a new proactive, strategic approach.”
He said the government had also relaunched the National Biosecurity Hub in partnership with the University of Pretoria and commenced the country’s first avian influenza vaccination campaign supported by upgraded digital disease surveillance.
“Our efforts are restoring confidence in our export systems and protecting farmers from catastrophic losses.”
Steenhuisen said more than 6 000 farmers had received direct support through a R1.7 billion allocation, creating 3 000 jobs over the past year.
“Through the Ilima/Letsema agricultural support programme, we supported 67 492 vulnerable households, generating nearly 9 500 work opportunities. We launched new smallholder farmer programmes in Jozini and beyond, focused on shifting the paradigm from ‘grow and sell’ to ‘grow to sell’.
Steenhuisen said the government had fast tracked the global Good Agricultural Practices accreditation for emerging producers and expanded access to finance through a restructured Blended Finance Scheme.
“We have made it clear; the future of agriculture lies with the youth. Over 3 000 agricultural graduates have entered internship programmes. We have begun integrating all 11 agricultural colleges into the higher education system.
“We are investing in climate-smart agriculture, pollinator protection, agroecology, and digital agri-tech tools to make agriculture attractive to the next generation.” – SAnews.gov.za
