The Uncomfortable Truth About South Africa's Agriculture by Wandile Sihlobo and Johann Kirsten. (Image: Supplied) 
In his previous two books about South African agriculture, the affable Wandile Sihlobo generally took a diplomatic tone when it came to government failures and half-baked policies.
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But Sihlobo, the chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), has taken the gloves off in his latest book, co-authored with Johann Kirsten, Director of the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch University.
The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa’s Agriculture takes aim at decades of government bungling, missteps, corruption and ill-conceived policies that have squandered the promise of land reform, a process that is crucial for food security, economic growth and the rectifying of glaring economic imbalances rooted in apartheid.
This book also weeds out many of the myths about the platteland — myths sprung from the manure spread by self-serving and populist politicians that can find fertile soil in the withered fields of disillusion.
Among the domestic challenges confronting South African agriculture, Sihlobo and Kirsten are scathing in their assessment.
“A malfunctioning State Veterinary Service is unable to prevent and manage disease outbreaks and unable to comply with requirements of trade partners,” they note — an issue that has been thrown into sharp relief by the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock.
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They also point to the “complete destruction of the rural road and rail system” and “dysfunctional local municipalities resulting in no service delivery”.
Not “poor” service delivery — “no” service delivery. The rural road and rail system is not just coming off the rails but has collapsed into “complete destruction”. The state vet service is “malfunctioning”.
This is no mincing of words and is a grim but accurate reflection of the unfolding disaster of government breakdowns and the bitter harvest they are reaping in the agricultural sector.
Still, against the odds and in the face of other challenges such as climate change, agriculture in South Africa is in many ways thriving. This crisp and concise book is not all doom and gloom and offers a number of sensible policy recommendations.
Myth-busters
The book busts many of the myths around South African agriculture that have ripened on the vines of state failure.
First off is the widely held perception that 40,000 white farmers own 80% of South Africa’s land.
“The magic number of 40,122 commercial farmers is widely quoted as the total number of farmers earning a commercial income from farming. The number comes from the 2017 census of commercial agriculture, but is based only on farmers registered for value-added tax (VAT),” the authors write.
“The 2017 census excludes 92,634 households that practise commercial farming as their main source of income, and a further 109,465 households that practise commercial farming as a secondary source of income. So, in total, there are 242,221 households (black and white) in South Africa that practise some form of commercial farming.”
And in 1994, white commercial farmers owned 63% of the total surface area of the country. That’s a lot, but it’s not 80% and has since declined.
Another myth is that commercial agriculture is characterised by large-scale white commercial farmers.
“This myth results from a misinterpretation of the concept of ‘commercial’ and ‘scale’. Commercial agricultural production indicates production beyond subsistence needs, with some, or a major share, of the total production sold to the market,” the book says.
And unlike fishing, size does not always matter.
“Land size is not a good indication of the scale of the farming operation. For example, a small irrigation farm of 10ha can deliver millions in turnover, while a 10,000ha Karoo farm with extensive grazing is unlikely to exceed R1-million in turnover per annum.”
The big myth centres on land reform and the mantra that only 8% of farmland has been redistributed to black people. I have been covering such issues for years, and the 8% figure has been thrown around now for more than a decade, seemingly stuck in an endless time loop.
“These arguments typically ignore the statistics on the land market... and the fact that black South Africans have been acquiring farmland on their own. Taking account of all the pillars of the land reform programme, it is estimated that 25% of all farmland has been redistributed or land rights have been restored,” the authors assert.
This is also close to the 30% goal by 2030.
But “... the incorrect presentation of progress with the land reform process is... maliciously used to inflate the argument for expropriation”, the authors pointedly note. It is all fodder for the populist and authoritarian MK and EFF parties and the radicals within the ANC’s fold.
“These arguments also conveniently ignore the bureaucratic inefficiencies in the government land reform programme, and the many cases of patronage and corruption in the programme that derailed the noble idea of assisting the rightful beneficiaries to acquire land in the market.”
The bottom line is that the state is now one of the biggest owners of farmland in South Africa, but much of it lies fallow and weed-strewn.
“There are vast tracts of land in the government books that could be transferred to black South Africans... for the benefit of agricultural progress and land reform success. To date, the process has not been transparent and many of the allocated parcels of agricultural land remain unproductive.”
Disappointing
The programme under the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (Plas) has been disappointing, the authors note, because “... virtually no land has been transferred to individuals”.
“The performance on most Plas farms is disappointing. More than half of the current beneficiaries aren’t doing any substantial agricultural production, and the same number were evaluated as having a low capacity to achieve commercial status.”
A poor beneficiary selection process — you are either a farmer or you are a cadre — inadequate support, poor infrastructure, a lack of access to the finance that comes with ownership, and rampant crime have dashed the promise of Plas.
Among the sensible policies proposed to kick-start aspiring black farmers and bring land back to productive use is the transfer of title deeds to capable farmers to enable them to access finance through a reinvigorated Land Bank.
The Land Bank itself should be focused squarely on mortgage finance for land purchases and wholesale finance for production credit, its cost of capital should be below prevailing market rates set by the Reserve Bank, and its funding models need revision.
There is a lot more cud to chew in this book, which lays bare many of the uncomfortable truths about South African agriculture while charting a way forward. DM