This is according to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, in reaction to the estimates that were released on Thursday by the Crop Estimates Committee. Estimates show that the 2021/22 summer crop plantings are 4.21 million hectares, which is 0.4% more than the 2020/21 production season. This is despite the 2021/22 agricultural season starting with concerns that floods would damage crops in provinces such as the North West, Free State, and parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Didiza further thanked all the farmers that planted in these challenging past few weeks and added that her thoughts are with the farmers who lost crops due to the floods. Meanwhile, the department is collecting information on the areas that have experienced damages due to heavy rainfall.

Despite a bullish start to the 2021/22 agriculture season, with prospects of another excellent season even with cost pressures, the sector faces a further challenge of the increased cost of debt. This follows the South African Reserve Bank’s decision to raise its repo rate by 0.25% and subsequently the prime lending rate to 7.5%. Paul Makube, Senior Agricultural Economist at FNB Agri-Business, says there are expectations of further increases of 125 basis points through to 2023. Thus, farmers face higher debt serving costs from rising interest rates, which will erode profit margins in the sector in an environment of higher input costs emanating from the massive upswing in the cost of fuel, fertiliser, pesticides, and herbicides experienced during the current season.

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The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation says pork production is under threat because of the cost-price squeeze. Janine Ryan, managing editor of Farmer's Weekly, shares that the pork industry grew at around 3.5% last year, however, farmers are struggling financially due to high production costs, with feed being the highest.

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