President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address does indeed have potential. Now the president must live up to the promises he made and step up to the plate. There is also great appreciation for the need expressed by the President to bring about cooperation in bringing about positive change in our country.

In 2015 Agri SA delegated the authority to the Agri SA Executive Management under the leadership of Mr Omri van Zyl to incubate a new company called Agri SA Enterprises (Pty) Ltd.

Na afloop van President Ramaphosa se aankondiging van sy Ekonomiese Herkonstruksieen Herstelplan op 15 Oktober, wat min detail bevat, is die fokus tans op die Minister van Finansies, Tito Mboweni, se Mediumtermyn-begrotingsbeleidsverklaring (MTBPS) wat hy Woensdag sal lewer.

Christo van der Rheede-  FORMER Executive director of AGRI -SA

Ons land is midde een van die ernstige gesondheidskrisisse.

The state-owned institution’s financial woes have led farmers and agribusiness to consider making an oer on the bank, starting a cooperative bank or partner with global commodities futures traders Agriculture: 

President Ramaphosa will have to spell out the role of the commercial sector very clearly in his State-of-the-Nation address this week.

The president presented arguably his most important State of the Nation Address (SONA) owing to the unprecedented global Covid-19 pandemic, says Christo van der Rheede, executive director of Agri SA.

Agri SA has learnt about the tragic incident in Piet Retief during which the two brothers, Zenzele and Amos Coka, succumbed to shooting wounds and farmers and workers sustained serious injuries during a scuffle that broke out.

The agricultural industry is a critical sector of the economy, responsible for the nation’s food security. Apart from global challenges such as climate change, the SA agri-sector is further burdened by the slow pace of transformation and land reform, barriers to entry for black commercial farmers and access to funding.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the agricultural sector has proven to be a stellar performer for the hard-hit South African economy, reaching an annual contribution to GDP of more than R119 billion in 2020 as well as employing more than 800,000 people in 2021.

Food production in South Africa dates to a time when indigenous people began to practice pastoralism, approximately 2 000 years ago.

The energy crisis is bringing farming in South Africa to its knees.

It is beyond dispute that every sector of the South African economy has suffered from the impact of rolling blackouts. But agriculture has suffered disproportionately, with numerous commodities under severe strain.