Anton Rabe on transformation and economic development

The word transformation means different things to different people. There are many opportunists out there to coin as much as they can, often at the cost of others. It is not so easily definable, but to me transformation must bring meaningful, impactful and economically sustainable change in people’s lives. If not it is just window dressing and fronting.

For me it’s about change and adaptation, also on a personal level and it is critical that it must be sustainable to be meaningful.

Transformation should happen within a value chain context that contains economic development and ownership (BEE) as well as training and the development of skills. In fact, everybody does not necessarily want to farm as such, but everyone wants a decent job and place to live. In 1999, two years after the deregulation of the Deciduous Fruit Board Peter Dall (then the chairperson of the DFPT) and I formulated a “Declaration of Intent” to give the deciduous fruit industry’s commitment some direction and focus. It basically provided the roadmap of how we foresaw the route towards transforming the value chain. The first projects within the policy of Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) of the early days was nothing other than a rent-acrowd exercise to pool money, mostly grouped in trusts and used to buy bankrupt farms, giving the owners a handy exit and retirement. Another big challenge is the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) farms where the government buys land for redistribution but remains the owner, getting a long-term tenant (up to 30 years) to farm the land. Those tenants cannot use the land as surety for improvements.

I therefore have comprehension for the fact that there are still parties out there sceptical about the broader agricultural industry’s intentions regarding transformation and economic development in general. However, over the past 25 years Hortgro made a significant and successful contribution towards the image of the industry. In a certain sense it is therefore unfair that the faults and perceptions regarding empowerment of other people and institutions still drive the narrative. We attempted to lay a good foundation by developing a detailed strategic framework which included the Boompie project. The initial aim was to establish 1 000 hectares with new-era producers. Today this project still forms the basis of our economical development programme and after additional Jobs Fund projects we’ve gone past 1 500 hectares as well as making big investments in other production infrastructures like dams, pipelines, pack houses, cold rooms and equipment such as trucks, pick-ups, tractors and more were financed and donated to emerging producers.

The booklet, Deciduous fruit industry changing times was produced in 2021 and here is an excerpt from the Foreword that I wrote: As an industry, we have built a proud and proven record of pro-active actions in the transformation and economic development arena since the inception of the programme. These interventions are by no means perfect, but we have a high percentage of success – 90%+ over the last 20+ years – which are both meaningful and impactful. Apart from the human capital development and social impact on worker and community level, the value of the land reform projects over the life span of the orchards established since 2009, is more than R16 billion. We need to build on this base by growing ownership and participation both at primary level and throughout the value chain.

Financing remains a big challenge. In my opinion, the era of so-called grants is over. We must build on the success of Hortfin who, arguably, put the first blended finance model on the table. Access to more funds like this is a high priority. There is still a long way to go, but we’ve had a good start. There are no quick fixes or silver bullets. Economic development must stretch over generations. May the road ahead be even better than the road already travelled.