From Soil To Market
Investing in South Africa’s agriculture future — opening up trading opportunities and supporting transformation
U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard visited the AgriEdge project in the Western Cape between Stellenbosch and Paarl on October 25, 2016.
AgriEdge (Pty) Ltd is a South African registered non-profit company, established and driven by a team of experienced women, passionate about the empowering of previously disadvantaged communities in agriculture.
Women and youth from historically disadvantage communities are learning how to run an agriculture business from soil to market. The farm is run by young South Africans who just planted stems for 60,000 pomegranate trees and 20,000 fig trees.
Ambassador Gaspard expressed his delight to see youth from historically disadvantaged communities were working to build a sustainable business that could one day access the world’s biggest consumer market — the United States.
South Africa has a highly diversified agriculture sector, including the production and value added activities of all the major grains, subtropical fruits, citrus, and many more. There are about 35,000 commercial farmers, 200,000 smallholder farmers and two million subsistence farmers.
The country is Africa’s largest exporter of agricultural products. Statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture show South Africa exported $245million in agricultural goods to the United States last year.
Many of South African exporters benefited from the Africa Growth Opportunity Act #AGOA and gained favorable access to the world’s biggest consumer market.
“Last year alone we had $2billion of trade between South Africa and the U.S. because of AGOA,” said Ambassador Gaspard.
The ambassador said he supported more open trade between the two countries and believed it would help transform South Africa’s agriculture to be more inclusive of all South Africans.
Want to know more about what he said? Click here…
Ambassador Gaspard said was encouraging to see young farmers like those from the Drakenstein Nursery Cooperative were learning skills they could use to one day to export their products to the United States.
The United States also supports two way trade and investment. There are 600 U.S. companies in South Africa that employ as many 100,000 South Africans, while contributing to 10% of South Africa’s GDP.
American poultry producers also gained access to the South African market this year.
“Fifty one percent of all poultry products that come into South Africa from the U.S. will be handled, imported, transferred by historically disadvantaged individuals. That is critically important for growth and sustainability in the industry and communities in South Africa,” said Ambassador Gaspard.
Want to know more? Listen to the Ambassador here…
South Africa is a regional hotspot for innovation and entrepreneurship. Ambassador Gaspard said the U.S. government has identified $170 million worth of new opportunities in the American market.
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