SA agriculture hits R491.7 bn in 2023 - Stats SA

This is according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), which released the results of its 2023 Agriculture Industry Survey on Thursday, offering a comprehensive overview of sector performance.

The biggest contributor to this income was animal farming, followed by mixed farming and horticulture. The most reared animals in the sector include cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens.

Despite the sector’s overall growth, cattle sales declined by 12.1% between 2017 and 2023 — dropping from 3.2 million to 2.9 million animals sold.

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“The leading provinces in cattle sales in 2023 were Free State accounting for 22.9% of the national total, Gauteng at 20.0%, and Mpumalanga at 13.4%,” said Stats SA’s Deputy Director-General for Economic Statistics, Joe de Beer.

- JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN PROVINCES - 

The survey also revealed significant differences in agricultural employment across provinces, often linked to the type and scale of farming activities in each region.

“Western Cape was by far the largest employer in 2023 at 195,984 employees of the national total, followed by Limpopo at 103,404 and KwaZulu-Natal at 88,025. The provinces with the smallest number of employees were Gauteng at 38,386 and North West 58,777,” said de Beer.

Between 2018 and 2023, KwaZulu-Natal recorded the largest employment losses (-7,038 jobs), followed by Northern Cape (-3,147) and Mpumalanga (-928). However, this was offset by employment gains in provinces such as Western Cape (+8,988 jobs), Limpopo (+5,984), Free State (+5,700), and Eastern Cape (+5,381).

- FIELD CROP -

The report also tracked changes in field crop activity. Between 2017 and 2023, there was an increase in the total area planted for maize, soya beans, wheat, sunflower seeds, and sugarcane.

Most of these crops were planted under dryland conditions (non-irrigated), with sunflower seeds having the highest proportion under dryland in 2023, followed by soya beans, maize, sugarcane, and wheat.

The survey covers tax-registered enterprises primarily engaged in agriculture and related services and is used by government, businesses, and analysts to support informed planning and decision-making.

Vegetable production also featured prominently in the report.

“The major vegetables in terms of area planted were potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and cabbages. Potatoes dominated the area planted and production in both 2017 and 2023. Potatoes and cabbages showed an increase in area planted between 2017 and 2023.”

In the fruit sector, oranges accounted for over 56,000 hectares planted in 2023, up 13.8% from 2017. Naartjies and lemons also saw major expansions, with planted areas increasing by 47.8% and 53.6% respectively between 2017 and 2023.

However, subtropical fruit production declined during the same period.

“Between 2017 and 2023, banana production decreased by 15.4% (from 220 thousand tons to 186 thousand tons). Bananas showed a decrease in production per hectare from 21.1 tons per hectare in 2017 to 18.3 tons per hectare in 2023,” said de Beer.

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