Over the past two decades, agriculture has had many plans. We morphed from the Agricultural Strategic plan in 2002, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) in 2007, the National Development Plan in 2012, Phakisa in 2016 to the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) in 2022.
Excitingly, the AAMP sets out to “To develop globally competitive agriculture and agro-processing sectors that drive market-oriented and inclusive production to develop rural economies, ensure food security, and grow inclusive employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for all participants in agriculture and agro-processing value chains”. This is a vision that all agriculturalists can rally around. Yet, as were the case with the previous plans, implementation remains slow, and the agricultural industry is still not performing to its potential.
This could easily be read as blatant criticism of our colleagues in the many of the state departments and state-owned entities that are critical to the agricultural industry for the implementation of the AAMP. Equally, it could also be misread as a disregard for the role that us as private industry has to play. But this is not what I want to focus on.
I want to stress the need for having a serious discussion over what the future of policy implementation looks like in agriculture. We operate in a society that is characterised by increasing volatility, high uncertainty and vast interconnectedness of factors and markets. Both the formal and informal agricultural markets are dynamic and interconnected environments shaped by factors that inevitably influence one another in unexpected and irreversible ways.
Take for instance the movement of animal diseases in South Africa. The future of large commercial livestock enterprises enjoying access to key export markets is equally dependent on their own biosecurity and animal health practices as it is on the state of animal health in deep rural and informal settings. Therefore, thinking that response to biosecurity should be focused on farms alone, is just not sufficient anymore. What happens in informal settings in Bushbuckridge and Mfuleni affects us equally.
Another example is the linear approach to agricultural development and extension. The idea that small farmers need to form part of formal training and education structures to get access to the right advice at the right time is outdated. We need to think innovatively and digitally. In the livestock industry there are many examples of private veterinarians creating content that is relevant to smaller producers. This is a much more flexible and cost-effective approach with a much more direct and larger scale of impact.
A more cross-cutting example is the duplication of efforts across many statutory and voluntary commodity associations when it comes to data and analytical capabilities. In a country where consolidation is changing the structure of every value chain and where many farmers form part of more than two statutory or voluntary structures, we must ask whether a collective or shared approach will not be more effective?
While it’s easy to acknowledge these complexities, it is baffling that we default to management mode and demand our colleagues in state departments and the broader organised agricultural industry to create order with a top-down hierarchical approach based on sound policies and protocols that will make things “right” again.
We need to realise that this approach, unintentionally, erodes the very trust and resources required to respond to the complexities of what we deal with in a new and innovative way. Bemoaning decay is not enough. Commenting on policies and plans and expecting a different outcome on ground level is not enough.
We need to start holding space and become imaginative about the future role that we will have to fulfil in relation to each other to adapt and respond adequately to the scale and complexities of the issues we deal with. In a food system with so many inefficiencies, the greatest control that and agency we have is how we choose to stand in relation to each other. The future of leading agriculture towards the great potential captured in the AAMP will be determined by our ability to compel each other to openly explore new ways to respond to the complexity of our agri-food system. In the months ahead I will explore in greater detail the practical shift required to take us forward.
