Johannesburg - Stakeholders who attended the first China-South Africa poverty alleviation workshop in Pretoria have agreed that South Africa has to form partnerships that will assist the country in leveraging science and technology to boost the agricultural sector.
Statistics South Africa reported that as of 2022, about 18.2 million people in South Africa lived in extreme poverty, which meant approximately 123 000 more people were pushed into poverty as compared with 2021.
With that figure set to increase by 2025, scientists, academics, researchers, and farmers who attended the poverty alleviation workshop at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria on Monday were in agreement that South Africa was sitting on a gold mine that could potentially help to avert the looming crisis.
Dr Theo de Jager, the chairperson of the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and former president of the World Farmers Organisation, said two things were important when trying to use agriculture to address issues of poverty.
The first, he said, was for the country to look at expanding where it was conducting farming activities.
Second, he said there was a need to produce more with less through the use of technology and data.
"Data is the new gold within the agricultural sector, and we need to start looking at how we gather and produce data to assist farming activities because data brings measurability. We must also simplify technology to enable farmers to reap benefits without the added costs of expensive tools."
Professor Nomali Ngobese, a plant biologist from North-West University, said it was crucial that technology brought about by scientists not be locked up in universities or academic spaces, but instead be used to assist not only the commercial sector, but also small-scale stakeholders.
In addition to that, she said it was important to change the face of agriculture and bring more young people into the sector.
"It warms my heart to see young people beginning to show off their work in the sector, but we need to encourage more youngsters to join in and understand that agriculture and farming is not just for old people.
"Nowadays we find that young people leave their farming villages to come and study agriculture, and yet they left or ran away from the practical, hands-on farming at home."
Ngobese added that in seeking solutions to address the current challenges, it was important for everyone within the value chain to look to forming partnerships not only with countries such as the People's Republic of China, but to create partnerships throughout the value chain.
"One cannot do it alone. We're not just talking about forming partnerships with friends and neighbours, but partnerships that will help with input, capital, stock, and how to navigate and negotiate a good price when you get to the market."
The Star