Significant growth recorded in south africa's agricultural sector in 2023

THE latest Financial and Production Statistics Report, released by Stats SA on Thursday, painted an optimistic picture for South Africa’s agricultural industry.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

This as total income for the sector reached an impressive R491.7 billion in 2023, reflecting a 6.8% annual increase compared to the R332.0bn reported in the 2017 Census of Commercial Agriculture (CoCA).

The main drivers behind this growth were the farming of animals, which accounted for R186.1bn or 37.8% of total income, followed closely by mixed farming with R115.9bn or 23.6%, and horticulture contributing R103.5bn or 21.0%.

Additionally, Stats SA noted a positive shift in the agricultural services and fertiliser production segments, with their share of total income rising from 1.1% in 2017 to 2.5% in 2023.

Despite these gains, there was a notable decline in the farming of animals, which saw its share decrease by 2.4 percentage points during the same period.