Our local economy is anchored by two major sectors: tourism and agriculture. Both these sectors are represented by well-established industry associations that serve the interests of their members admirably. Notwithstanding, we believe that Chambers such as ours have an important role to play by:
* Acting as an umbrella body to represent the entire economy, and
* Forging linkages between the various sectors in the economy
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While the local agricultural sector has in the past been dominated by sugar cane and bananas, we have observed a significant diversification into other higher value products such as macadamia nuts, olives and essential oils, which has resulted in the gross value of agricultural output in the district increasing exponentially. Developing these new products to their full potential will require farmers to take on or sharpen skills such as export practice and marketing, a need that Chambers have the ability to meet.
Initiatives
It is widely acknowledged that scale is a large factor in successful farming ventures. As the Chamber, we do not believe that this should be a limiting factor to participation in the sector. Thus, some of the initiatives the Chamber is involved in are:
- Identifying areas in the value chain that can be accessed by new entrants
- Creating market access linkages between smaller farmers and the mainstream retailers
- Quality certification of their products and growing methods to tap into higher value markets (both these areas will also be covered in a breakaway session)
- Adopting green farming methods to improve yields and retain soil quality
- Encouraging corporates to direct CSI initiatives to the agricultural sector
We firmly believe that significant synergy exists between business Chambers and agricultural sector associations that could result in a meaningful positive impact to the local economy as a whole.
In regard to the last point, it must be highlighted that the Chamber is part of a very successful partnership with the project facilitators and stakeholders in the KwaMadlala area adjacent to the Idwala Carbonates mining areas. We are hoping that the template for this project and lessons learnt will lead to a model that can be replicated in other areas.
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