Ramaphosa encourages collaboration
[{“type”:”text”,”content”:”President Ramaphosa repeatedly expressed his gratitude towards the industry in ensuring food security for South Africa and contributing to the economy, creating jobs, and collaborating with others. While addressing serious topics such as land reform and farm attacks, he continuously focused on the importance of taking hands with different stakeholders and roleplayers.nn#### Gratitude towards agriculturennThe president began by expressing his gratitude towards the agricultural community for feeding the nation and the economy while playing a direct role in alleviating poverty. He also referred to the expansion of agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic and the sectoru2019s continued contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) over the past two years.nnu201cWhile it was a time of good rains, the performance of agriculture was also thanks to the strong partnerships between the sector and government,u201d he said. He continued: u201cOur experience during the pandemic led to an increased public appreciation of the role of agriculture in our national life. It also reaffirmed once more that farmers are the lifeblood of our country.u201dnnThe presidentu2019s address reaffirmed the government’s unwavering support of the sector, pledging to contribute as much as possible to the sustainability and growth of agriculture.nnu201cAgri SA has helped us to create sound policies and programmes to support the sustainability of agriculture in South Africa. As we implement the national Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, the agriculture sector is our valued partner.u201dnn#### Growing localnnHe indicated that he was pleased to see that the Agriculture and Agro-processing Masterplan (AAMP) was prevalent in the congress discussions and expressed his pleasure at discovering the congress theme: u201cGrowing local.u201dnnRamaphosa stressed the importance of replacing imported agricultural produce with locally produced products. He called importing goods that can be produced locally a lost opportunity for the sectoru2019s growth and expansion as well as job creation.nnu201cWe must strengthen local value chains so that localisation translates to more business opportunities up and downstream, as well as decent work for our people,u201d he explained.nn#### Addressing challenges for agriculturennHe furthermore acknowledged the challenges for Agriculture, especially at a global level, for instance the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser disrupting the agricultural value chain. These increases sent food price inflation hitting new highs, pushing the cost of the typical food basket to over R1000 in August 2022. u201cThanks to the agility of our farmers and traders, proper planning and good domestic harvests for wheat, sunflower and maize, we are now seeing prices starting to fall.u201dnnOther matters addressed included the risk of biosecurity and the prevalence of animal disease, the poor state of infrastructures such as roads, rails and ports, the wage dispute at Transnet, electricity and water infrastructure investments and licences.nnu201cOf the 203 projects in the pipeline developed by the Infrastructure Office in the Presidency, 13 relate to agriculture and agro-processing, including processing facilities, irrigation schemes and fresh produce markets.u201d”,”position”:0,”id”:”Q0UeO0H0BDbndZIE”}]