Farmers could become extinct, says Agri SA
In 1994 South Africa had 120,000 farmers - compared to 37,000 at present
Farmers feed the nationWe have not made this profession sexy enough
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COMMERCIAL farmers could become extinct in the near future, says Agri SA deputy president Theo de Jager.
De Jager said the industry needs more young people.
"The average age of a farmer is 62 years. This means we are going to become extinct. Somehow we have missed the generation of new entrants," he told the SA Agricultural Outlook conference in Pretoria.
De Jager said a study conducted by Agri SA showed that in 1994 South Africa had 120,000 farmers compared to 37,000 at present. He said the government should consider involving farm workers in its land reform programme, because they already had experience in farming.
De Jager said Agri SA had already started visiting schools to educate the youth about the agricultural sector.
"We have not made this profession sexy enough. It is not cool to be a farmer. We need to rectify this in a short space of time," he said.
He said young people had yet to understand that the agricultural sector involved a variety of skills in different fields including science, labour, finance and engineering.
He said the decline in the number of farmers could also be blamed on the collapse of agricultural colleges.
De Jager said young people were not going into the agricultural sector because farming had not been profitable in South Africa in recent years.
South Africa lagged behind other emerging economies in research and development in the agricultural sector because of the shortage of young people, he said.
However, De Jager said the decline in the number of farmers was a global phenomenon caused by farmers growing bigger to have the advantage of economy of scale. Both the government and private sector had not done enough to attract young people into farming.
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Comments
Shredder
Scary thought!!I won't mind to be a farmer. In fact, I am thinking of career change and become a farmer.
"He(De Jager) said the government should consider involving farm workers in its land reform programme,"
I hope they won't build the shacks or Estates on those lands. Even more scary to think we will occupy the land with Property estates an shacks and no land to produce food.
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ukuvusa
Wrong. The mains reasons are farm murders and the threat of farms being removed by force. That is why we don't have farmers. I am no farmer myself, but I am very worried about food prices in the future.Report Abuse
Mrazane
If you could have a dancing and singing movie about a farmer - with scenes of him running through the mielie fields with a beautiful damsel at the end of the field picking sunflowers - then maybe these young ones might be interested, becasue most of them are only interested in song, dance and the good ol' roll in the hay.With such a high unemployment rate surely this is a great opportunity to create employment, whilst securing food for the nation.
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Mrazane
@ Ukuvusa - you make a valid and important point, you know in this era of political correctness people fear speaking the truth.Report Abuse
dik
South Africa operates on a depletion economy which leaves destruction in its wake.People are driven by a terrible sense of deficiency.
When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when the air we breathe is sickening, we will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that money cannot be eaten.
Extracted and edited from a published conversation between Alanis Obomsawin and Ted Poole and published in 1972.
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tumi85
But south african government do not care about the young unemloyment graduates. There a lot of young unemployment agricultural scientists gradutuates, statistically about 10000.Report Abuse
cornelius
The issue of education is important. Too many people think you canjust become a farmer. It requires extensive sccientific and practical knowledge.Report Abuse
VENDALIOUS
i blame julius malima for this..............Report Abuse
MommaC
1994 South Africa had 120,000 farmers compared to 37,000 at presentSo where are those farms now?
A lot of the farmers are either dead or in other countries but they didn't take the land with them so what has become of it?
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Honeybadger
MommaC1994 South Africa had 120,000 farmers compared to 37,000 at present
So where are those farms now?
A lot of the farmers are either dead or in other countries but they didn't take the land with them so what has become of it?
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Arrable land has gone to waste mostly due to govt inefficient expropriation policies
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