Inclusion in agriculture is a ‘win-win’ for farmers and consumers – John Steenhuisen, Minister of Agriculture

702’s Bongani Bingwa speaks with Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen.

Listen below:

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has outlined his plans for the sector, which include market participation, technological innovation, climate resilience and empowering women and youth.

He says that inclusion is not just a moral add-on but is also necessary for growth and strategic competition.

He believes that one of the benefits South Africa has is large rural areas with fertile land, but these areas have been underutilised and excluded from the value chain.

To combat this, he says we need to aggregate small-scale farmers into the value chain and help them meet quality and volume requirements.

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“The more supply you have going into the value chain, the more prices become competitive, and there will ultimately be lower prices at the end of the day for the consumer. It’s a win-win; we're growing agricultural economies. We're providing rural development, but at the same time providing quality and price to consumers at the at the end of the value chain.”

- John Steenhuisen, Minister of Agriculture

In KwaZulu-Natal, the Department has worked with Unilever to connect small-scale farmers to the market.

Scroll up to the audio player for more.