Drought, Hunger and the Cost of Leadership: Who Pays the Price?

South Africa’s communal farmers collectively own 47 percent of the country’s livestock but supply just eight percent of the formal red meat market.

South Africa’s rural development debate often starts with a familiar idea: if rural households have more land, they can produce more food, earn more money and become “emerging farmers” who eventually develop into commercial farmers.

It’s not often the subject of press headlines or television news broadcasts; fiscal deficits, sovereign debt levels, and sluggish economic growth are the usual attention grabbers.

South African farmers know that weather is one of the biggest factors determining the success of a farming season.

South Africa entered the second quarter of 2026 with an unemployment crisis deep enough to dominate almost every economic debate, yet agriculture continued to support about 944,000 jobs and remained ahead of its employment level a year earlier.