South Africa’s agriculture continues to create job opportunities, and its long-term job creation prospects remain positive.
If we look at the high-frequency data, the number of farm jobs in South Africa increased by 2% from the second quarter of 2025 to 920,000 in Q3. We see the quarterly improvements mainly in some field crops, horticulture and forestry, as well as in the production of organic fertiliser. The increase in jobs reflects the optimism generated by the abundant harvest in these subsectors, which we have highlighted on numerous occasions. The one subsector that remains under pressure is the livestock industry, mainly due to foot-and-mouth disease.
Notably, the 920,000 number is far above the long-term average level of 799,000 jobs, signalling that while the sector faces challenges such as animal diseases, wage pressures in some industries and poor municipal service delivery, the employment conditions remain at encouraging levels.
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