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Agri Hour

SA strives to expand labour-intensive subsectors

───   CHRISTAL-LIZE MULLER 05:57 Tue, 26 Nov 2019

SA strives to expand labour-intensive subsectors | News Article

SA strives to expand labour-intensive subsectors


As per usual on a Tuesday, Wandile Sihlobo, Chief Economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, Agbiz, provides a weekly insert on South African agricultural markets.

Here is Sihlobo…


See attached PODCAST


He says the South African government and private sector players have embraced a vision of expanding labour-intensive subsectors as part of a broader agricultural development strategy. Such subsectors are mainly horticulture and to a certain extent field crops, which when combined, accounted for two-thirds of the 880 000 jobs in the third quarter of this year.

In addition to that, the top valuable agricultural exports over the past five years were also within these subsectors. The top ten exportable agricultural products accounted for a 52% share of the average US$9.5 billion worth of agricultural exports in the period between 2014 and 2018. It includes citrus, wine, grapes, apples, pears and quinces, maize or corn, wool, nuts, sugar, fruit juices, and animal feeding.

This underscores the vision of expanding labour-intensive subsectors with a focus on export-led growth.

He says other agricultural products that are still relatively small in value terms, but with higher export growth rates, are figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, black, white or red currants, gooseberries, and beef. Most importantly, these are also products that are labour-intensive and therefore expanding production would be in line with South Africa’s broad agriculture vision. 

That was Wandile Sihlobo, Chief Economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, Agbiz.


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