The deterioration of the country’s road network and continued poor maintenance is having a direct impact on the agricultural sector – and by extension, the price of produce in South Africa, says industry body AgriSA.
“The findings are dire, and point to the enormous cost of South Africa’s poor road maintenance for the proper functioning and growth of the sector,” AgriSA said. The survey revealed that participating farmers rely on road transportation to move an average of 94% of their produce. On average, participants transported an estimated R23 million worth of agricultural produce by road in the last financial year for a combined total of more than R7.1 billion.
“All this constrains the potential of the sector to contribute to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Produce and employment. The sector already contributes R128 billion to GDP, but this can be even higher. This potential is illustrated by the fact that it was one of the few sectors to increase employment in the latest Quarterly Labour Force Statistics.”