Issues in agribusiness under the spotlight
Other topics tackled at the conference were Africa’s ability to deal effectively with climate change and how this affects inter-regional agricultural trade.
Fresh produce markets are a vital rural and urban economic driver, but poor investment in infrastructure is threatening their existence and sustainability.
These were the sentiments of Ayanda Kanana, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Joburg Market on Wednesday, 10 July, at the Agribusiness Africa conference on the East Rand.
The conference was hosted by Farmer’s Weekly, South Africa’s oldest agricultural magazine. The annual conference was attended by stakeholders from across the agribusiness spectrum, including farmers, agriculture experts, academics, traders and agri-scientists.
Kanana told the gathering that the Joburg Market was a channel that gives farmers access to offer their produce to a variety of consumers. He appealed to the private sector to invest in the Joburg Market in City Deep in order to expand its operations.
“The market cannot operate in a silo. Farmers need to collaborate more with us,” Kekana said.
He added that the full value chain of fresh produce markets across the country had surpassed the R140 billion mark over 10 years.
As of the end of June, Joburg Market had recorded a turnover of about R7,9 billion as shown in unaudited figures for the 2018/19 fiscal period.
Jaco Oosthuizen, the CEO of RSA Group, South Africa’s biggest fresh produce sales agency in Africa, said fresh produce markets were key enablers of economic growth and urged farmers to support them.
“There is a place for everyone in fresh produce markets, big and small buyers and all qualities of produce are available,” Oosthuizen said.
He added that fresh produce markets needed to mechanise and be more open to digital technology, yet cautioned that that was not by any means the only answer for developing the agribusiness.
Other topics tackled at the conference were Africa’s ability to deal effectively with climate change and how this affects inter-regional agricultural trade.
Conference speakers agreed that climate change had emerged as one of the biggest risks and challenges to agribusinesses and that revenue in the sector would likely decrease by the year 2100.
Farmers need to adapt to green jobs, use climate detection technology, produce climate friendly goods, enhance financing options for climate friendly technologies, lobby for reformed climate friendly policies and create social protection for workers to be resilient in order to mitigate the risk of climate change.
