South Africa's agricultural sector in 2025 has showcased remarkable resilience and growth in several key areas, even as persistent challenges threaten long-term sustainability. The citrus industry achieved a historic milestone, exporting a record 203.4 million 15kg cartons—a 22% surge from 2024—driven by favorable weather, maturing orchards, robust global demand for juicing oranges and lemons, and enhanced port efficiencies that extended the selling window amid an early end to Northern Hemisphere supplies.
This boom, equivalent to over 3 million tons, positions the country ahead of its Vision 260 strategy aiming for 260 million cartons by 2032, potentially creating 100,000 jobs and bolstering foreign exchange earnings, though looming US tariffs pose risks for 2026.Employment figures in agriculture reflect steady recovery, with primary sector jobs reaching 924,000 by late 2024—well above the long-term average of 799,000—and holding around 906,000 in Q2 2025, supported by horticulture and field crop expansions despite quarterly fluctuations tied to seasonal cycles.
The grain and oilseeds harvest delivered another triumph, exceeding 23 million tonnes—a 30% leap from the prior drought-hit year—anchored by maize output of 16.33 million tonnes, far surpassing domestic needs and reinforcing South Africa's role as a regional exporter while easing feed costs and stabilizing trade balances.Improved port management has been pivotal, with Transnet's investments in equipment, productivity incentives, and private partnerships slashing vessel waiting times by up to 75%, boosting crane efficiency by 13%, and enhancing cold chain reliability for perishables, enabling smoother flows at hubs like Durban, Cape Town, and Richards Bay.
These upgrades have unlocked new export markets, including protocols for table grapes to the Philippines in February and multi-stone fruits (apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes) to China in October, alongside strengthened ties in Thailand and BRICS nations like India and Saudi Arabia, diversifying beyond traditional EU (36% of exports) and Middle East (19%) destinations to capture growing Asian demand for citrus, nuts, wool, and wine.
Yet, these advances are overshadowed by profound concerns, chief among them the unrelenting foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks ravaging livestock—comprising nearly half of agricultural output—with 270 cases reported across five provinces by July, including fresh detections in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and the Free State, leading to closed export markets like China and financial devastation for farmers through culls, quarantines, and lost income.
Biosecurity lapses exacerbate this, as frequent disease incursions demand urgent private-sector vaccine production partnerships to revive Onderstepoort Biological Products and the Agricultural Research Council amid stalled progress.
Farm security remains a dire crisis, with farm murders and thefts persisting—fueled by organized crime, poor rural policing, and reputational spillovers harming unrelated sectors like wool exports to China, prompting calls for a dedicated Rural Safety Unit and priority crime status. Infrastructure decay compounds vulnerabilities, from crumbling rural roads and storage facilities to erratic electricity and water access, hindering smallholder integration, post-harvest losses, and climate adaptation for over 70% of farmland at risk from droughts and soil degradation.
Land expropriation fears intensified with President Ramaphosa's January assent to the Expropriation Act, enabling nil compensation in "just and equitable" public interest cases like reform, sparking DA-led constitutional challenges over procedural flaws and property rights erosion, while no seizures have occurred yet.
The exclusion of farmers from decision-making has turned outright toxic. In October 2025, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) – now split under Ministers John Steenhuisen (Agriculture) and Mzwanele Nyhontso (Land Reform) – convened an AAMP Executive Oversight Meeting in Stellenbosch without inviting six key organizations that had rejected the plan in 2022: the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI), Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa (TLU-SA), Western Cape Rural Safety Association (WRSA), National Employers' Association of South Africa (NEASA), Agricultural Employers' Organisation, and consumer groups. These bodies, representing thousands of commercial farmers, had met multiple times with the department and state-owned enterprises to voice concerns over the plan's top-down approach, which they argued sidelined practical input from those tilling the soil. "This is an agricultural master plan without farmers," decried SAAI's Dr. Theo de Jager and TLU-SA's Bennie van Zyl, likening the snub to the ANC's perennial scapegoating of apartheid for modern failures like service delivery collapses.
More good news -
We have heard unconfirmed reports that South Africa actually has over 280,000 commercial farmers—not just 40,000 as commonly claimed. With this number, combined with our rigorous classification standards for commercial farmers, we possess the capacity to feed the world, thanks to the unparalleled quality of our farmers, which is the best globally.
EXPLANATION - READ MORE on the LINK - Article by Wandile Sihlobo
We have many such “zombie ideas” in South Africa’s agriculture. This may seem petty, but some of the things I have heard, for example, are that:
- South Africa has more or less 40,000 commercial farmers
- Then there are more or less 2.5 million small-scale farmers
- And a further 2.75 million people who perform some form of agricultural activity for home consumption or sale to the market
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