Kulani Siweya, an agricultural economist at Agri SA, says the organisation is eagerly awaiting to hear what the minister will say about investing in critical infrastructures, such as roads, amongst other pressing issues, in his speech. 

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Siweya adds that the organisation is of the opinion that government needs to prioritise projects this year that will put South Africa on a sound fiscal footing in a trajectory for the future. Agri SA also hopes that Gondongwana will use his maiden budget speech to announce interventions that will enable the agricultural sector to realise its full potential in terms of job creation.

“Secondly, the government must continue to address the country’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio. The recent reduction from over 90% to below 80% by 2025/26 is encouraging but must be maintained over the long term to stabilise the economy.

“Agri SA will be listening for announcements addressing the public sector wage bill, and how government plans to fund the extension of the Social Relief Distress Grant to 2023.

“We also hope that the budget will not include any unbudgeted bailouts to failing state-owned enterprises.”

Siweya further highlighted the importance of prioritising critical infrastructure such as roads, harbours and railways which are of utmost importance to the agricultural industry. Continuous heavy rainfall in parts of the country exacerbated the already poor condition of both provincial and rural roads, making the transporting of goods from farms to the markets difficult and even dangerous.

“Agri SA shares in the belief that government, labour and business must work together for our economy to succeed. Our organisation and its members are committed to protecting existing livelihoods, creating more jobs in our country, and maintaining agriculture’s upward trends.

“We are hopeful that the Budget Speech will include announcements that will strengthen our efforts to create a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive agricultural sector that can guarantee South Africa’s food security for generations to come,” adds Siweya.

Furthermore, in terms of what he foresees would happen with prices for fuel and fertilizers in 2022, Siweya stated that even though it is difficult to predict this, the organisation does hope that prices will come down. This will bring much-needed relief to farmers’ pockets as well as the general public’s purses.

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