Farm strikes will change SA agriculture forever
"The current agricultural strikes will change agriculture in South Africa forever. We will in the next couple of years be seeing far-reaching changes in agriculture," Dr. Pieter Mulder, deputy minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in Willowmore. Dr. Mulder was the speaker at an Agriculture Day in the Eastern Cape Karoo town.
Commercial farmers are not welfare workers, but are in the first instance business men who have to make a profit. Only thereafter can a farmer give attention to social issues which is what the trade unions are expecting of them to do currently.
The message which I am getting from farmers from across the country is that the time has come to restrict their dependence on farm workers as much as possible. In developed countries such as the USA and Australia, where there are few farm workers available, farm implements are already so developed that it assists farm owners to manage without hundreds of farm workers. One combine can do the work of hundreds of workers.
An exorbitant increase in the minimum wage may in the short term hold political advantages for the government, but will in the long term inevitably lead to great work losses and mechanisation of the agricultural industry.
In South Africa farm labourer numbers have decreased from 1, 1 million in 2004 to 624 000 in 2011. That is a decrease of 46%. Although this is an international trend, factors such as land reform, government interference on farms and the general insecurity about the future of agriculture has made this figure in South Africa much higher than the decrease in other countries. The expected change to mechanisation after the strikes on farms will further speed up this trend in South Africa.
In South Africa, there are more than 12% commercial farmers which has an annual turnover of more than R2 million. The turnover of the other 82% is less than R2 million annually, with 52% which have a turnover of less than R300 000. With the increasing prices in electricity, water and fuel, farmers cannot afford the sudden increase in labour costs. Their choice will be either bankruptcy or reducing the number of farm workers.
Dr. Mulder strongly condemned the violence and intimidation during the farm strikes as well as the politicking. The burning of farms and the destruction of property lead to a lose-lose situation. Both the farm owners and farm workers will in the next year suffer great financial losses as a result of this.
Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Mulder, FF Plus leader and Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Forestry and Fisheries, November 20 2012
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