South Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness sectors have a broader responsibility for food security beyond our borders. Southern Africa leans heavily on South Africa for food supplies. This is clear from the observation of South Africa’s agricultural exports. The country exported about $13.2bn of agricultural and processed food products in 2023. Nearly 40% of these exports were for Africa.
Notably, roughly 90c in every dollar of South Africa’s agricultural exports to the continent is from Southern Africa. Grains, fruits, vegetables and selected beverages are typically high on South Africa’s list of agriculture and food exports to Southern Africa.
Not all countries rely equally on South Africa’s agriculture and food industry. There are seven dominant countries — Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zambia — which accounted for 81% of South Africa’s agricultural exports to the continent in 2023. In fact, over the past five years, these countries have accounted, on average, for 80% of South Africa’s agricultural exports to the continent a year.
My writing on agricultural economic matters is available on my blog.
This podcast is produced by Richard Humphries, Sam Mkokeli, and Amanda Murimba
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