South Africa plans to boost livestock and crop production by up to 15% in the next two to five years and help tame soaring food inflation, a senior agriculture official said on Monday.
Priscilla Sehoole, chief communication officer at the Department of Agriculture told Reuters government was ”confident” it would achieve its expansion targets despite water shortages in the drought-prone country.
”Increasing local production will ultimately contribute towards lowering prices that will be of benefit to the consumers,” Sehoole said.
Inflation in February jumped to a five-year high of 9,4% year-on-year in part due to high food and fuel prices.
Food only inflation soared to 14,1% from 13,4% year-on-year in January, making staples such as bread, milk and maize increasingly unaffordable for millions of the poor.
Central bank Governor Tito Mboweni warned consumers to ”tighten their belts” and said there were tough times ahead.
In an effort to tame inflationary pressures, the Reserve Bank raised the repo rate by 400 basis points to 11% between June 2006 and December last year, but left it flat in January. Analysts said CPIX has yet to peak.
Government hoped to reduce consumer dependence on imported products by training more black farmers, improving their access to markets and helping them to participate in cattle improvement schemes.
”This is aimed at reducing the dependence on imported food products which are greatly affected by constant fluctuating exchange rates in the backdrop of increasing global demand,” Sehoole said.
The rand has lost as much as 20% against the dollar so far this year, putting pressure on inflation.
Sehoole said the agriculture department also wanted to increase urban animal agriculture as a source of income while enhancing household food security.
”This will contribute towards the national production and in the long run reduce reliance on imported products.”
”The more we produce enough products for the local market the lower consumer prices will be bearing in mind that the scale of production is increased,” she said. – Reuters