Issues Here and Beyond Our Borders
Contents
Introduction
Everything takes place in a context. Issues Here and Beyond Our Borders is concerned with a wide range of broader issues that impact farming in South Africa.
Animal health and overall biosecurity has been called the “single largest driver of growth of the South African agriculture and agro-processing sector” (BFAP, 2022). Certainly a country misses out on export opportunities and related growth if biosecurity basics are not in place.
“The availability of food is the starting point of all life” … Food security is what agriculture is all about!
Nobody disputes the need for transformation within the agri-food sector. “Black Economic Empowerment in Agriculture – AgriBEE” and “Emerging farmer support” both look at what is required to measure progress and what can be done to ensure that this progress is sustainable. The pages identify role players and where support can be found.
It might be obvious that cities are a market for agricultural produce, but have you considered that South Africa’s future will be decided in our cities (CDE, 2023)? Both are reasons for our including “The Urban Question” on the Agribook website.
Years ago, Kenneth Clark identified the need of a sense of permanence to exist for civilisation to happen. The same holds true for people on the land. A sense of safety (which includes ownership) allows for the confidence to invest in homes and land. See the “Rural crime and farm safety” page.
Energy is crucial for all industries, not only for agriculture and agro-processing. Our “Energy” and “Renewable and alternative energy” looks at this.
Arguably farm workers are the most under-serviced labourers in South Africa, and HIV and its related diseases remains a reality, increasing rural impoverishment and straining social safety nets to breaking point. Some 13.7% of our population lives with HIV (Manne-Goehler & Casas, 2024) and so we continue to present our page on HIV and Aids.
Global (if not planetary) issues are climate change, the health of our water, and the state of our oceans.
