This is the key message from Agri Northern Cape President Henk van Wyk during the organisation’s 37th annual congress in Kimberley this week. 

Van Wyk says there is no doubt that demand for food will grow in future.

“As I said in my address, the resource is getting smaller and the popultion is getting bigger. We (agriculture) will eventually be the place where everybody wants to be, where food and fibre are being created. That is the marketplace where you need to be.”

Commenting on challenges in the sector, Van Wyk says roleplayers in the agriculture sector have realised that they can’t depend on Government for help but need to make plans for themselves to ensure they can keep farming.

“Organised agriculture will have to make the plans going forward, get the financing ourselves. The Government, for some or other reason, can’t or won’t help us.

“But we are geared to make our own plans. In future, we won’t stand with open hands, pleading for alms and mercy from Government. We will do things ourselves.”

DEMAND FOR FOOD TO GROW EXPONENTIALLY BY 2050

Agri SA’s Executive Director, Omri van Zyl, has also addressed Congress under the theme “Agriculture, our future too”. He told delegates that the world population is expected to double by 2050, with demand for food to grow exponentially.

“There’s two elements to that – there’s the population growth and there’s the people moving to cities. Those two are big elements of the market that is created and buying power.

“Africa is going to have a quarter of the world’s population by 2050. We physically don’t have those resources. Although we have the land and all of that, we physically don’t have the agricultural produce. That in itself is a massive opportunity for us.

“So if you look at a supply and demand story, we are in the right business.”

He says although there is a lot of adversity out there, there are also a lot of positives:

“We’ve been doing extremely well and I don’t think people have given the necessary praise to us, that we deserve. I felt I had to share that.

“The fact that we are the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that’s food secure, the fact that we are actually a net exporter of agricultural products - we’re a very sophisticated sector. We are doing extremely well.

“I think the moral of the story is let’s portray the good messages and let’s build on those.”

Congress is being addressed by a heavyweight line-up of speakers, including Grain SA CEO, Jannie de Villiers, and Agri SA President, Johannes Moller. Also on the agenda is the announcement of the provincial young farmer of the year, an inter agri-school debate and an annual election.

OFM News