It's naïve not to watch closely SA’s trade links with Russia and Ukraine, especially agricultural market and oil price’s escalations, the writer says.The African proverb is far from losing its meaning when it says: "When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." From the agricultural perspective, the global agricultural market will be directly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war.
SA benefits from exporting fruits to Russia. In the year 2020, Russia accounted for 7% of SA citrus exports in value terms and 12% of SA’s apples and pears, making it SA’s second largest market. On the other side, SA is heavily dependent on its wheat imports. The Ukraine-Russia conflict challenges the department to be more effective in its efforts to massify the production of the affected products; while discovering the lost opportunities in provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Western Cape, to involve black farmers in the production of wheat and barley.