Farmers Review Africa May/June 2017 Farmers Review Africa | Page 16

Insights
How the WC
Agriculture
impacts
SA GDP
e Western Cape (WC) is a province that
GDP in South Africa.
houses an important part of the agri-economy in Agriculture has a
South Africa. It has seen the worst of the drought total contribution to
Dawie Maree
on record, dam levels remain low and the the GDP of the WC of drought, if not broken soon, will de nitely impact
province has gone as far as implementing roughly 4%. But what is signi cant to note is negatively on the long term economic growth for
restrictions on water usage throughout the that agric and agro-processing is responsible for both the province and the country's economy.
region. 18% of employment opportunities in the province. e WC has recently had some rains; however, the
3. How has the drought impacted employment contributing factor of the drought has had a
Dawie Maree, Head of Information and
Marketing at FNB Agri Business takes us
drought has not b een broken. A major
through four reasons why the Western Cape numbers in the sector?–e drought will have negative impact on the wheat industry, seriously
Agricultural sector is important to the South the biggest impact on seasonal employment in hampering supply, with the knock-on effect on
African economy.
the fruit industry. Due to possible lower wheat prices and possibly the bread price.
production, less seasonal workers might be Although SA is a net importer of wheat, this might
1. Why do we need it to rain in the WC? – e employed, with the obvious socio-economic mean that we will have to import even more wheat
WC is probably SA's most important export consequences related to a decreased number of than we normally do. Some of the losses in wheat
province in terms of agricultural products. e those employed. For Q1 there were 215 000 production might be offset by increasing
deciduous fruit industry, wine industry and employees in the agric sector in the WC. at is production in the Free State and Northern Cape.
increasingly the citrus industry is also setting 14.2% less than in Q4 of 2016. A large base in the WC, these are all key export produce percentage of these are due to seasonality - It is “We must keep in mind that although agric only
that contribute signi cantly to the overall agri- however 5.9% less than the same period in 2016 makes up around 4% of the sector when
economy in South Africa. Should any of these (228 000) – clearly a consequence of the compared to other industries, the majority of
industries suffer, it becomes detrimental to the drought. e WC has the biggest agricultural agric's production, in access of 70%, gets used by
agricultural industry as a whole in South Africa workforce in South Africa at 24.5%.
and by extension, the local economy.
the manufacturing industry and the Western
Cape is an key contributor to this. Should agric
4. What is the long term impact of the drought suffer; the whole value-chain will suffer”
2. What is the percentage impact on GDP on both WC and the country? e WC is a concludes Maree.
contribution? – e WC contributes 24% to total central agricultural exports province and the
May - June 2017
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