AgriSA Sets Five Priorities to Drive South Africa’s Agricultural Growth
AgriSA Sets Five Priorities to Drive South Africa’s Agricultural Growth. AgriSA has identified five policy priorities for South African agriculture, placing stronger institutional accountability and collaboration at the centre of efforts to strengthen the sector.
The priorities were outlined at AgriSA’s 2026 Congress, held under the theme “The Path is Clear”. The organisation’s consolidated mandate covers land and development, natural resources, labour, rural safety, and economics and trade.
AgriSA president Willem de Chavonnes Vrugt said agricultural growth would require cooperation between government, organised agriculture, commodity organisations, business and farmers.
“You can farm individually, but you cannot build agriculture individually,” he said.
Under land and development, AgriSA is calling for commercially viable land reform, secure property rights, appropriate beneficiary selection, access to finance and post-settlement support.
Its natural resources priorities include water governance and infrastructure, climate adaptation, biodiversity and sustainable production.
On labour, the organisation has highlighted predictable wage-setting, a dedicated agricultural visa, agricultural college reform, skills funding, as well as rural housing and transport.
Rural safety is another priority. AgriSA is calling for stronger policing, intelligence-led enforcement, formal cooperation between the South African Police Service and organised agriculture, and practical rural community safety mechanisms.
The organisation’s economics and trade agenda includes port and rail reform, rural roads, energy pricing, embedded generation, trade diversification, biosecurity, rural broadband and greater policy certainty to support investment.
AgriSA said the focus now needs to move beyond identifying policy requirements towards ensuring that the institutions responsible for implementation have clear roles and sufficient coordination.
De Chavonnes Vrugt said the key question was not only what government should do, but which institutions were best placed to deliver specific functions and how their capabilities could work together.
AgriSA said its role was to connect farms to national policy and link policy decisions to agricultural value chains through its network and partnerships.
“The five mandates give us the substance. Our network gives us the reach. Our partnerships give us leverage. What matters now is execution by all organisations that have an impact on agriculture. The path is clear,” De Chavonnes Vrugt said.
The five priorities will guide AgriSA’s next phase of work as it calls for coordinated implementation across organisations and institutions influencing South African agriculture.
