Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday that the inaugural South Africa-Italy Agriculture Business Forum being held in Cape Town marks the most dynamic agricultural partnerships between South Africa and a leading European agricultural nation.
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South Africa and Italy are poised to strengthen agricultural cooperation as both countries look to unlock new opportunities in value-added production, technology transfer and food system resilience, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday.
Addressing delegates at the inaugural South Africa-Italy Agriculture Business Forum in Cape Town, Steenhuisen described the event as the beginning of one of the most dynamic agricultural partnerships between South Africa and a leading European agricultural nation.
He said agriculture has always been built on relationships — between farmers and markets, innovation and productivity, and countries that recognise the benefits of working together.
“Both countries want to produce more food using fewer resources. We want to strengthen rural economies and create jobs. We want to build resilient food systems capable of withstanding climate shocks, disease outbreaks and market disruptions.”
Steenhuisen added that they want to ensure that the next generation sees agriculture as one of the most exciting sectors of the future.
“The relationship between our two countries is already built on strong commercial foundations. Agricultural trade between South Africa and Italy now exceeds R650 million annually, with South Africa maintaining a positive agricultural trade balance and horticultural exports alone valued at approximately R190 million,” he said.
“These figures demonstrate that Italian consumers and businesses already recognise the quality of South African agricultural products. But they also suggest that we are only scratching the surface of what is possible.”
Steenhuisen said the real opportunity lies not simply in exporting more fruit, nuts and other agricultural products.
He said opportunity also lay in combining South Africa's production strengths with Italy's world-renowned expertise in processing, packaging, technology and branding to create greater value across the entire supply chain.
“These opportunities are highly practical and often region-to-region. When we look closely at our respective agricultural landscapes, we find a remarkable alignment between South Africa's provincial strengths and Italy's regional expertise. In the Western Cape, for example, we have world-class wine, deciduous fruit, citrus and fisheries industries,” he said.
According to the department, these sectors align naturally with regions such as Tuscany and Veneto, renowned for premium wine production and vineyard innovation, while Emilia-Romagna offers globally recognised expertise in food processing machinery and packaging automation.
Steenhuisen said his department was working hard to create the conditions necessary to turn into reality President Cyril Ramaphosa's ambitious objective of increasing value addition within South Africa's agricultural sector by 30%.
He said developing economies have exported raw products while importing finished products for far too long.
“The future lies not only in producing more, but in processing more. Not only in growing commodities, but in creating value. Not only in exporting what comes from the soil, but in building industries that capture more of the economic value generated throughout the production chain,” he said.
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