WANDILE SIHLOBO: Agricultural sector needs to be tapped to improve employment
The latest agricultural employment figures have fallen again, with SA lagging well behind its 2030 jobs target in the sector
Having written a bit about the promise of employment creation in SA’s agricultural sector, I was, again, given a reality check by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the first quarter of 2019. The data shows that SA’s primary agricultural employment fell 1% year-on-year to 837,000 due to reduced activity in field crops, livestock and forestry, all partly due to unfavourable weather conditions earlier in the year. From a regional perspective, the provinces that faced notable declines were the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. However, other provinces saw a marginal uptick. The data reminded us that SA is still lagging behind its target of creating 1-million agricultural jobs by 2030, as envisaged in the national development plan and constantly advocated by policy makers. As 2030 draws nearer and the statistics continue to show no sign of improvement, the targets become increasingly difficult to attain. As far as I can tell, if the under-utilised ...
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