Agbiz's John Purchase on land reform and hunger
Irresponsible moves on land reform could affect SA's food supply
SA could pay a heavy price for the government's refusal to listen to land reform proposals put forward by the Agricultural Business Chamber, says CEO Dr John Purchase. Its latest agribusiness confidence index, released recently, shows confidence has plunged to its lowest level in nine years. Purchase, who is also deputy head of economic policy at Business Unity SA, blames this on expropriation without compensation. "The last year in SA has been dominated by those three words," he says. This has already had a damaging impact on investment in the agricultural sector, which, in the medium to long term, will affect SA's food security in the form of higher prices. Though the chamber has vigorously opposed expropriation without compensation, it strongly supports land reform, he says. "We all know that we've got to do land reform." In 2014, the chamber presented to the government a detailed model for commercial banks to assist and accelerate land reform, "but it just was never implemented"...
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