Results of agricultural census released at a crucial time
24 March 2020
Agri SA welcomes the release of results for the latest1 Census of Commercial Agriculture (CoCA). We realise that good decision-making on the spectrum of matters that affect agriculture should be based on accurate and reliable information.
This includes aspects such as infrastructure, services, housing, finance and employment. CoCA 2017 is therefore very important for both farmers and the agricultural industry. In the current context of COVID-19, this is even more so.
The preliminary results of the 2017 agricultural census confirm the important role that this sector plays within the South African economy and our society. It provides a concise overview of trends in respect of agriculture’s role as food and fibre provider and the structural changes that can be observed amid changes in the local policy environment as well as in the global market.
It is important to bear in mind that this census is incomplete in that it does not cover the entire agricultural spectrum. For example, it does not include information on former homelands, subsistence farming and beneficiaries of land reform. These results only cover commercial agriculture’s core 40 122 farming units. For this reason, it remains difficult to conduct a full valuation of contributions and trends in respect of resources excluded from the census and which change hands in the transformation process.