The presidents of the African Farmers Association of South Africa (Afasa), the National African Farmers Union of South Africa (Nafu SA), Agri SA and the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa, as members of the Agri Sector Unity Forum (Asuf), have declared their intent to work together to develop a national strategy for the agriculture sector from the perspective of organised agriculture.

The purpose is to develop, in collaboration with government, a joint development plan for agriculture and ensure a growing and inclusive agriculture sector aligned with the outcomes of the National Development Plan (NDP).

These outcomes will, among others, entail food security, job creation, development, sustainability and higher levels of competitiveness, while building mutual trust and collaboration and bringing about stability in the sector.

Additionally, the organisations aim to identify all the constraints, especially in terms of government policies, plans and institutional capacity, that are impeding the development and growth in the sector and initiate alternative interventions.

The engagement of these parties, Afasa president Vuyo Mahlati explained, mainly dealt with the issues of inequality in the agriculture sector, as well as the failure of land reform.

Additionally, she pointed out that, while it had not been an easy journey – the four parties “don’t necessarily agree as far as the issue of land expropriation without compensation” was concerned – the parties appreciated the diversity of views.

“What brings us together is the fact that we believe we have a responsibility to craft a very progressive national agriculture development plan that is going to address issues of inclusivity and sustainability and we will ensure that we deal with these issues . . . we are facing very extensively.”

In keeping with the spirit of the agriculture sector to come up with a national development strategy for an inclusive and sustainable sector, Asuf VP Pitso Sekhoto also announced that Asuf would, in November, host an indaba for the agriculture sector.

“While we take cognisance of the NDP and Operation Phakisa’s outcomes and many other important documents and processes, we want to build trust within our sector and come up with a national strategy that will address a number of concerns that we all agree on.”

These concerns, he elaborated, included problems with the current land reform policies and programmes, which were “so comprehensive and intricate that it is unlikely that these can be fixed, and instead need a complete redesign”, as well as postsettlement support for new farmers, export-led growth for black farmers and the “massive institutional failure at departmental level, which is an impediment to transformation in the sector”.