Agriculture

1. Employment data for (i) primary and (ii) secondary agriculture in the Western Cape Province is provided in the table below.

Source:    Calculated from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey of Stats SA

Note:      Data for Q1 of 2021 will only be released by StatsSA on 1 June 2021.

2. There is direct correlation between the area under agricultural production and the number of jobs created (the so-called multiplier effect).  The job intensity also varies according to the farming enterprise (e.g. deciduous fruit is more labour intensive than wool production). As the availability of water is the main constraint for agricultural expansion in the Western Cape, it follows that lack of additional irrigation water is also the main factor prohibiting further job creation in the Sector.

3. As food production was declared an essential service right from the start of the Covid‑19 pandemic, the Agricultural Sector could continue with production.  Nevertheless, the Sector did experience a number of challenges such as:
   • International logistics: Disrupted air traffic (and associated lack of cargo space), bottlenecks at ports resulting in ships passing Cape Town Harbour and shortages of containers.
   • Global re-alignment: Rise of nationalisation (e.g. competition for vaccines; buy local), farm inefficiencies abroad, challenge to import key inputs, changing consumer preferences, differences in the application of regulations, changing lockdown regulations, slowdown in the global economy.
   • Disruption of farming and agri processing businesses: cost of compliance to regulations, induced inefficiencies (e.g. social distancing), additional cost for personal protective equipment, on-farm outbreaks of Covid-19 and services failure (public and private).
   • Challenges in domestic trade: closure of retail outlets and restaurants, disruption of domestic value chains, regulations ignoring the importance of the informal trade, social unrest, decline / shifting purchasing power
   • Unfavourable legislative environment: ban on the sale of certain products (e.g. wool, cotton, flowers, wine, etc.), inconsistent or conflicting regulations leading to policy uncertainty, inconsistent application of regulations and hesitant emergence from lockdown regulations.
   • Domestic challenges: Economic slowdown and job losses resulted in diminishing purchasing power.

Despite these challenges, the Agricultural Sector was the only Sector of the economy that showed growth during each of the four quarters of 2020.

Separate Covid-19 infection rates for the Agricultural Sector is unfortunately not available.

4. It was indicated above that the Agricultural Sector did face, and is still facing, a number of challenges during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  However, the Sector did show growth in all four quarters in 2020 and the fact that it was declared an essential service did, without a doubt, contribute to this achievement.  Furthermore, one could only imagine the famine, food insecurity and chaos that would have ensued if food production was prohibited.