It is rather challenging, and seems a bit strange, to write about positive data on South Africa’s agricultural sector when the largest subsector of the farming economy is reeling from a severe animal health crisis.
The speed at which the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease can be contained, and the industry’s revival, along with associated costs to the cattle farming business, is something we will understand better in the coming months.
What is encouraging for now is that the leadership of the department of agriculture, as well as organised agriculture and others, is focused on the issue. Hopefully, a long-lasting solution or improvement will emerge from this crisis, leading to increased attention.
The data point that caught people’s attention this past week was the recovery of South Africa’s farming economy in the first quarter and its contribution to the overall economy. The data released by Statistics South Africa showed that agricultural gross value added expanded by 15,8% quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted) in the first quarter of 2025.
Now, I am always reluctant to focus too much on the agricultural gross value-added quarterly figures due to their noise and the potential delays in some harvest data, which often opens the door to later revisions. It is usually better to put more emphasis on the annual performance of the sector.
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