And mpat results

What is to be done?

Stimulate Agriculture as a growth sector through investments, for agriculture delivers more jobs per rand invested than any other productive sector and remains crucial in the face of rural poverty and food insecurity

Agriculture contribution to GDP – compared to other sectors

• The Agricultural sector is one of the main contributors to getting the economy out of the technical recession.

Agriculture lost 40 000 jobs: Q4, 2017

Change in the number of persons employed by province: 2008 vs 2015
Source: QLFS, 2008-2016 BFAP: Sep. 2017

• Fastest growth in high-value export crops in Limpopo
• Major losses in KZN due to sharp drop in sugar production

The Comprehensive Support Programme (CASP): Objectives

CASP sets out to deliver a wide range of economic, social and environmental benefits

On the economic front :

• To produce higher levels of productive efficiency, create on-farm and off-farm jobs, increase income and wealth in the rural economy
• Attract significant amounts of domestic and foreign investment to complement the initial capital injections through the programme
• Reversal of the inequities in farmland access and use rights inherited from the apartheid era.

In terms of Social Benefits :

• Its contributions to household and national food security should significantly add to poverty reduction and improve rural living standards; reduce crime, violence and socio-political instability resulting from conflict over limited agricultural resources
• Pertaining to Environment, CASP supposedly promotes ecologically sustainable farming.

Employment figures: CASP Conditional Grant 2016/17 (CASP report 2016/17)

Analysis

• 7 894 (80%) jobs were created on-farm against a target to create 9 858 jobs
• More temporary 5 484 (69%) than permanent 2 410 (31%) jobs – due to the seasonality of the sector
• More males 4 216 (53%) received employment as compared to 3 678 (47%) females
• The youth made up 25% (1 966) of people employed
• KwaZulu Natal reported more jobs created (2 868) followed by Western Cape (1 712).