Wandile Sihlobo | SA sorely needs inclusive growth in farming - here's what's preventing it

If there is one thing the agriculture sector could be faulted on over the past decade, it is that focus on the inclusion of new black farmers into the commercial level has taken a backseat, says Wandile Sihlobo.

The current growth momentum in South Africa's agricultural sector is not just a development of the past two seasons. If one casts an eye back to 2010, just two years before the official publication of the National Development Plan, the agriculture sector's aggregate volume of production in 2020 was 19% higher compared to that year.

This was spread across all sub-sectors, i.e. horticulture, animal products and field crops – although at varying levels, with field crops having shown more modest growth.