SIMON BROWN: I’m chatting with Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa. Wandile, I appreciate the time today. The Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan – give us a sort of high-level view of what this plan is and what it would hope to achieve.
WANDILE SIHLOBO: The plan, Simon, was launched around May 2022. There have been some elements of implementation here and there, but not in an aggressive and coherent manner – which one would’ve liked for a number of reasons. One, just after the plan was launched, in the following year South Africa was hit by immense load shedding, which put a strain on the agricultural sector, given that 100% of our food and vegetables are under irrigation.
You mentioned the new administration. As we chat, we’ve done our job, we have voted. Now the political parties are negotiating coalitions. I have to say, my sense from the world out there is that an agricultural minister – most people don’t think about who that would be – is critically important to industry because industries are involved and communities are involved in the plan, but really a minister’s going to drive this aggressively at best.
But if you look at the other two parties that are there, the Democratic Alliance and the IFP, the DA has been implementing the policies of the South African national government in the Western Cape. So I’m inclined to think that they would continue with the master plan and the other aspects that we already have.
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