Economic policy must reflect the vital role of agriculture in creating opportunities for South Africa’s youth
By Makhosazana Dlamini
Youth Month is a time to not only commemorate the valiant actions of young people in past generations, but also to reflect on the steps we are taking – or failing to take – to secure the future of young people. Our greatest battle today by far is one of economic empowerment.
Much of the energy in this regard tends to be focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as avenues for creating opportunities for the youth, forgetting the vital role that agriculture plays in this regard. But long after the dust has settled on the flurry of Youth Month activities, we need to see continued investment in the agricultural products of the future if we are going to take meaningful steps towards a better economic environment for our young people.
Agriculture has already consistently proven to be amongst the most labour-intensive sectors in our economy. This allowed agriculture to outperform other sectors throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent crises that have roiled the South African economy along with the rest of the world.
Data from last month’s quarterly labour force survey, for example, demonstrated that agriculture alone added 27 000 jobs in the first quarter of 2023, behind only the finance and social services sectors. But the fact is, even as the economy changes, this vital employment role the sector plays is not expected to change.
The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report finds that, while 23% of jobs are expected to change by 2027, the agricultural sector will still show the greatest absolute growth in terms of numbers of jobs created.
The sector is expected to increase employment by 15-30%, adding millions more jobs globally. What is most exciting is the convergence of technology and agriculture, with the largest jobs growth being seen in professional technical roles such as Agricultural Equipment Operators.
The question South Africa needs to answer is whether we are making the effort to position ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities in the agricultural sector to create a better future for South Africa’s millions of unemployed young people.
In the local sugar industry, this was the role of the Sugarcane Value Chain Masterplan. The plan was crafted along with government and partners across the value chain. Its aim was to address the headwinds facing the industry, and to restructure it for future growth. That plan recently concluded and, while it had notable successes, we need to do more to ensure that a new generation of sugar cane growers have a sustainable and profitable industry to invest in.
For one thing, we need government in particular to do more to support transformation. The industry has not only invested in the inclusion of black and women growers, but it has also supported scholarships for the children of growers and workers wishing to pursue agriculture-related fields.
Yet these efforts can only go so far if they aren’t supported by a functional education system and additional funding for tertiary studies. These are the building blocks of a future-looking economy facing competition from more technologically advanced, developed countries.
But this is not enough to take us to the promised land of a growing, profitable sugar industry. We also need to remove the policy and legislative barriers to the industry’s growth. Among other things, this means taking an evidence-based approach to initiatives like the Health Promotion Levy, which threatens the current survival and future sustainability of the industry.
We also need to double down on positive measures that protect the industry such as the tariffs protecting our sugar from cheap imports. That fight is not just for government but also for the public, which is why SA Canegrowers has relaunched its Home Sweet Home campaign to save the local industry, and we encourage all South Africans to join us.
Most importantly, we need to invest in the future. What were once possible future products for the sugar industry, like sustainable aviation fuels, are not only here, but also a vital battleground for market share in which some of the world’s largest economies are getting a head start. The only question is whether we can meet this moment that will define the future of the sugar cane industry for generations.
The challenge boils down to two things: creating the regulatory environment and making the necessary investment. In the US, President Joe Biden is driving the multi-stakeholder effort to advance the production of sustainable aviation fuels. To this end, the president has proposed a tax credit to help scale production quickly.
Other measures include billions of dollars invested in new and existing projects, an investment in increased R&D activities, and greater backing by the US Department of Agriculture to producers. These moves are also being replicated in some of the world’s biggest cane growing nations, and what we do today will determine whether we are counted among these in the future.
To build opportunities for the future, we need to look at Youth Month through the prism of the tomorrow, not just yesterday. And that lens demands much more of us than one month of commemoration. It requires committed, sustained work towards the future we want to see. The sacrifices of yesterday will be wasted if we cannot convert them into something new and better for the country’s many disempowered young people.
Makhosazana Gxumisa is the Development Manager at SA Canegrowers
BUSINESS REPORT