Agriculture’s sustainability is a priority
As an exportorientated agricultural sector, SA must always pay attention to global developments and risks that could undercut its competitiveness in the world market. Several environmental, social and political risks undoubtedly remain top of mind for farmers and agribusiness leaders.
But one issue that does not always get full appreciation is the contribution of the agricultural input providers — various agrochemicals and seed breeding. The lack of public focus mainly stems from the fact that consumers and policymakers primarily monitor the end products: the harvest size and, in animals, the health and expansion of herds.
Rarely do we see a concerted broader public focus on assessing whether SA is needs keeping to up change. with the’times SA s in registering and developing its seeds and agrochemicals. This agriculture has more than doubled since 1994 in value and volume when assessed through the data from the Abstract of Agricultural Statistics published annually by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development.
At the centre of this agricultural progress are the following catalysts: expansion of export markets, thus creating a demand pull for products; the early adoption of high-yielding seed varieties in crops; improvement of genetics in animals; and the use of agrochemicals.
SA was embracing technological advancement in ways that much of the African continent was not, thus setting the country apart from much of Africa in terms of its yields. This technological embrace primarily explains higher crop yields in SA compared with some neighbouring African countries with even better climatic conditions. A case in point is SA’s embrace of genetically modified crops, whose adoption in the early 2000s resulted in maize and soya bean yields improving notably over time.
With this encouraging track record in embracing science, a semi-arid country like SA should invest even more resources in science today, when climate change and changing geopolitical environments have introduced new risks.
Fortunately, SA has a thriving private-sector-led agricultural sector, where resources have been channelled into research and could continue to be devoted to this effort.
Still, the country’s regulators, specifically those within the department, need to share the urgency of the present moment and do more to support technological advancement. Such support would come through evaluating the various agrochemicals and seeds that the private sector presents and registering them for use after being satisfied with the testing.
The process needs to be faster and more agile, and not be bogged down in the usual politics of organised agriculture and the government. Politics can be tolerable when addressing social issues, but science does not need cloudy judgment.
What should be a priority is the health, improvement, sustainability and competitiveness of SA’s agriculture. This is a prism through which regulators should engage input providers and private-sector researchers. Equally, organised agriculture groupings should ensure that their scientists are leading the engagements with regulators and not muddying the science with various issues they often raise with the government.
A case in point of legislative work that needs to be modernised is the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Seeds & Remedies Act of 1947, which regulates the registration of fertilisers, farm feeds, sterilising plants and certain remedies.
Even countries that have a sluggish view of scientific progress in agriculture, such as the EU, are suddenly changing their approach. For example, on February 7 the European parliament issued a statement highlighting that it had adopted a “position for negotiations with member states on the commission proposal on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), which alter the genetic material of an organism, with 307 votes to 263 and 41 abstentions”.
Parliament further stated that “the objective is to make the food system more sustainable and resilient by developing improved plant varieties that are climate resilient, pest resistant, and give higher yields or that require fewer fertilisers and pesticides”.
SA should also review its regulations on gene editing so that it can remain at the forefront, as the country has been in the past two decades.