Agriculture

The Eastern Cape Provincial Government, as part of its Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP), has identified agriculture as an economic growth sector for the province.  Agrarian transformation forms a large part of the PGDP in terms of the economic diversification within the province.  As such this sector has large-scale investment potential which will contribute significantly to economic diversification and job-creation.

The province currently has over 70 000 farmworkers employed on commercial farms and a  further 436 000 engaged in small-scale and subsistence farming.  The Eastern Cape is also the "livestock" province of the country and is home to 21% of South Africa's cattle, 28% of its sheep and 46% of its goats.  In terms of agricultural crops, the province is a major producer of chicory, pineapples, tomatoes, citrus fruit, deciduous fruit and tea.

Recent sector research into agriculture in the Eastern Cape has shown that the province offers investors the following competitive and comparative advantages over other agricultural investment destinations:

• the Eastern Cape has interseasonal production capacity because of the alternating seasons with the USA, Europe and the Far East;
• the bio-diversity of the province allows for a wide variety of primary and secondary agricultural production;
• the diversity in climate and typography of the Eastern Cape provides countless combinations of agricultural activity in different geographic locations; and
• opportunities exist for global agricultural entrepreneurs to invest in "green farming practices" in the province aimed at carbon credit accumulation, management and sales.

 Large-scale agricultural projects currently underway include:

• 30 000 hectares of land have been placed under maize production as part of the ASGISA Eastern Cape project;
• 10 000 hectares of land have been planted for forestry as part of the private/public partnership and the PG Bison chipboard investment in the Maclear/Ugie areas; and
• The provincial government plans to make a further 460 000 hectares available for food and biofuel crops as part of its PGDP.

As a direct result of these current and future plans, opportunities are available in terms of:

• Direct investment in primary agricultural activities - according to the latest research, one million hectare of land is available in the North-Eastern part of the province for primary livestock and crop production;
• Downstream agricultural infrastructure and manufacturing;
• Agricultural transport solutions for crops and livestock;
• Storage and warehousing of agricultural produce for beneficiation;
• Agricultural food processing;
• Agricultural marketing; and
• Crop, livestock and agricultural product distribution.