Agricultural demand set to increase

Bertie Hamman, senior manager of secondary agriculture at Standard Bank, says agricultural demand in South Africa is expected to increase as population and income levels increase. Bertie says it’s not quite as simple as that. “It is essentially going to be about the sector adapting to the change in demand-related trends. Production will increasingly move from a production push principle to a demand pull principle,” says Hamman. “The new global trend towards ecological intensification of agriculture, which focuses on using land, water, biodiversity, nutrients, and renewable energy efficiently and in ways that are regenerative, should be noted for agriculture to sustainably serve South Africa’s future agricultural produce demand”. According to him, both consumers and the agricultural sector are at crucial turning points that will change the way that food is produced and consumed in South Africa. “The one solid fact that is certain is that we will need to continuously produce more food to meet an ever-growing demand. But the type of food and the nature of its production must continuously adapt to meet consumers’ far more sophisticated needs,” he says.       – Standard Bank press release