The biggest threat to food security is the government’s failure to successfully implement its land-reform policy, says Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers. Food makes up 15.48% of SA’s inflation basket. White maize accounts for about 75% of the percentage for food. De Villiers said on Wednesday that emerging farmers were unable to raise finance to buy implements or finance crop inputs because they lacked title to the land they were meant to cultivate as land-reform beneficiaries. They therefore had no collateral to offer as security for loans from financial institutions. The average commercial farmer in SA borrowed about R5m a year, he said. "You can’t farm commercially without borrowing," De Villiers said. Although the state is meant to provide finance and support to emerging farmers through its recapitalisation and development programme, land-reform failure is up to 90%, according to recent estimates. SA is the only country in Africa that is food secure, according to Global Food Secur...
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