Number of farms in use falls by 13%

The number of farms in active production fell by 12.7 percent to fewer than 40 000 in the five years to 2007, Statistics SA said yesterday. Agriculture experts attributed the decline to consolidation while discounting a government view that food producing land was being bought up for golf courses and game farms. (from Business Report)

The reduction in active farming units by 5 836 between financial 2002 and 2007 continued a trend in the R79.5 billion commercial farming sector, the agricultural census showed. In 1993 there were 57 980 farms.

John Purchase, the chief executive of the National Agricultural Business Chamber, said small farms were generally less financially viable. There was a tendency for farmers with bigger land holdings to buy up smaller farms.

The move to better economies of scale was a way to improve productivity in a country struggling to compete globally.

Purchase did not necessarily accept that game farms were less economically productive.

In 2007 South Africa became a net importer of agricultural products for the first time in more than 20 years as local food output failed to keep pace with a growing population, according to the National Agricultural Marketing Council.