Long-term trends indicated significant growth in agricultural employment, according to a report released on Thursday by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (Namc). However, there have been times when employment in agriculture decreased.
Because farmers often employ more labor throughout specific times of a given marketing season, these periodic drops were attributed to seasonal employment. The employment statistics by industry, province, and gender mix in the agriculture sector are outlined in this Namc study.
The Agricultural Sector
According to Statistics South Africa‘s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), 258 000 more people were working, or 16.2 million people overall, in the first quarter of this year than there were jobless people, or 7.9 million people. As a result, the number of people in the labor force rose by 0.2%.
The pome fruit (apples and pears) industry as well as the lemon and soft citrus sectors both use seasonal workers, which is thought to be the cause of the increase in employment in the agricultural sector. The number of people employed in the agriculture sector increased in five provinces while it decreased in four others.
- Employment in agriculture has grown over time but has been fluctuating.
- The number of people in the labor force rose by 0.2% in the first quarter.
- Resilience of agricultural sectors due to production conditions.
Thoko Didiza, the minister of agriculture, land reform, and rural development (Dalrrd), expressed her satisfaction with the agricultural industry’s overall employment contribution to the nation.
Strong production conditions were the reason for the agricultural sectors’ resilience in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and the Western Cape. Although production issues were faced in other provinces, the sector’s prognosis is still favorable.
Government initiatives like load curtailment and the Agro-Energy Fund will be beneficial. 15.9 million tonnes of commercial maize, 2.8 million tonnes of soybeans, and 18.5 million tonnes of sugar cane are projected to be harvested in 2022–2023.
