Competitiveness is a system outcome: from collaboration to implementation

01The real test

Koos Nel of Agri X set the bar at the opening of the Agri X Fusion Red Meat Value Chain Collaboration Summit: “The real test of the summit will not be what we agree on here, but what we are prepared to do afterwards.” None of the industry’s challenges, from animal health and biosecurity to market access, climate, finance and research, can be solved sustainably by one organisation alone.

Dr Botlhe Modisane asked the practical question: when we leave the room, how do we translate this to the people working at farm and auction level? Trust, he said, will be key, and the industry has to be honest that it isn’t there yet.

02Think as a system

Prof Edward Webb of the University of Pretoria used the 2008 global financial crisis to show how a problem in one subsystem can bring down the whole system, and challenged the industry to move from an individual to a systems perspective. “Competitiveness is a system outcome.” His summary in one word: doelmatig, doing the right things right.

Dr Tobias Doyer, CEO of Grain SA, closed Day 1 of the Agri X Fusion Red Meat Value Chain Collaboration Summit with the collaboration imperative between livestock and grains. Producers don’t compete alone; value chains compete, on quality, flexibility, delivery, innovation, social responsibility and cost. And as he showed with the legislative and regulatory continuum, disorganised agriculture can’t shape where it stands between state control and self-regulation.

03Who picks up the bill?

On Panel 2 of the Agri X Fusion Red Meat Value Chain Collaboration Summit, Gerhard van der Burgh of BFAP asked the question every collaboration eventually faces: who needs to pick up the bill, and for what? Kobus Bester of Simbra answered that each participant must understand their obligation in the value chain, as Australia’s industry and government do when they match contributions dollar for dollar. “It’s not whether we can afford to participate. It’s how long we can afford not to participate.”

04Not a production problem: an integration problem

Dr Mashego Maleka, Executive Head: Commodity Development & Market Access at AFASA, put it bluntly: “South Africa does not have a production problem. We have a value chain integration problem.” Research, land, farmers, markets, finance and technology all exist. But the researcher works separately from the farmer, the farmer from the processor, the processor from the retailer, and the financier from all of them. The future, he argued, belongs to integrated ecosystems.

He pointed to the District Development Model as one way to get there: One Plan, One Budget, One Team for each district, with national, provincial and local government working from a single, costed plan alongside traditional leaders, business, academia and farmers. AFASA proposes Sekhukhune in Limpopo as a “lighthouse” district to prove the approach.

05Growth first

Dr Tobias Doyer reminded delegates that South Africa has seen a decade of around 1% growth, roughly the same as population growth, so “we are not becoming richer”. “If we don’t get growth, we can’t do inclusivity.” His pork example showed how interdependent the chain is: the grain sector can’t thrive unless its livestock customers thrive too.

Francois Knowles added that the industry has to go beyond minimum compliance and ask what it can do to build a more credible and competitive business.

06Revisit the plan, don’t recreate it

Wandile Sihlobo reminded delegates that the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan wasn’t created by government alone, but with many diverse stakeholders. The private sector’s task is to revisit it, not recreate it, and to focus on implementation and inclusive growth.

Francois Knowles of APAC showed what that looks like at market level: clear roles for producers and agents, transparent reporting, and independent regulation that protects producers.

07From talk to action

Closing Day 1 of the Agri X Fusion Red Meat Value Chain Collaboration Summit, Prof HB Klopper urged delegates to make sure the summit “doesn’t just become a talk shop”. Each participant was asked to say both what they need to happen and what they can offer, as the starting point for practical agreements and follow-up on the collaboration platform.

08What comes next

Agri X Fusion will use the summit’s priorities to shape focused workstreams on biosecurity and One Health; traceability, data and digital agriculture; markets, exports and value; and finance, inclusion and innovation. Each will answer three questions: what needs to change, who needs to be involved, and what can we start doing now?