Can gov't cure its P8bn headache? :: Mmegi Online

In September, the country imported P24 million worth of sunflower seed oil. Local production, meanwhile, has dropped from a high of 16,000 tonnes in 2011 to just 73 tonnes last year. The numbers are another reminder of government’s import substitution headache, writes Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI

The minister of agriculture, his assistant and the numerous technocrats at their disposal have lately been using the same buzzword to pinpoint what government believes is the solution to the underperformance of the agricultural sector: ‘value chains’.

A comprehensive definition of this proposed agricultural sector antidote is that a value chain includes “development and dissemination of plant and animal genetic material, input supply, farmer organisation, farm production, post-harvest handling, processing, provision of technologies of production and handling, grading criteria and facilities, cooling and packing technologies, post-harvest local processing, industrial processing, storage, transport, finance, and feedback from markets”.

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