South Africa depends on agriculture. It is not merely a highly diversified industry, but also a cornerstone of the economy.

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) was founded in 2004. It serves the broader African, as well as the South African food system through an end-to-end value chain approach which considers land, water, the economy and its people as well as elements of the socio-economic environment, such as infrastructure, governance, social change and technologies.

A decade has passed since the National Development Plan (NDP) was published. It identified agriculture as the main sector to drive development opportunities in South Africa’s rural areas.

Fanie Brink, Independent Agricultural Economist

State job ads are just window dressing- TLU SA has for years highlighted the connection between South Africa’s descent into possible candidacy for “failed statehood”, and the deployment of cadre appointees to government jobs, without regard to their suitability for the post.

It’s easy to feel lost while in conversations about nanotech, biotech, remote sensing, and ag marketplace. These are all agricultural technologies (AgTech), and they are not typically on the spectrum of where venture capital (VC) is invested.