To stimulate the growth of the agroprocessing sector, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is focusing on the development and revitalisation of South Africa’s agroprocessing infrastructure.
As part of its Critical Agroprocessing Infrastructure Support Programme, the department was engaging stakeholders around critical enabling infrastructure needed for smallholder farmers, producers and processors.
Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies said the Critical Agroprocessing Infrastructure Support Programme was aimed at achieving greater participation, competitiveness and integration of marginalised processors into the agricultural value-chain, and reversing the underinvestment in the support structure for agricultural exports.
“This is part of our efforts to boost the growth of the agroprocessing sector to increase its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product, job creation and the reindustrialisation of the country’s economy,” he noted.
Agroprocessing was one of the priority sectors identified in the Industrial Policy Action Plan and was targeted for intensive government support measures.
The programme was expected to go a long way in completing the agricultural value chain, with the DTI providing the infrastructure required for the processing of primary products from the farms.
“We are working with various national, provincial and local government structures, including the provincial investment promotion agencies in different provinces.
“One of the platforms that we are collaborating in will be the agriparks that are being established by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to stimulate the rural economy,” said Davies.