By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Gauteng is shifting its agricultural programmes towards commercialisation, with farmers increasingly expected to sell produce, generate revenue, create jobs, attract finance and eventually operate without permanent state support.
Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa outlined the approach on Wednesday at the official launch of the Tarlton Agripark SMME Incubation Programme in Mogale City, where more than R8 million has been invested in upgrading the facility and incubating 11 agricultural SMMEs.
Under the theme “Transforming Agriculture Through Aggregation, Markets and Partnership”, Ramokgopa said agricultural transformation had to be built collaboratively, but around a clear commercial logic.
“Aggregation is one of the most important strategic interventions available to us to help small-scale farmers cross the gap between production and commercial markets,” Ramokgopa said.
“Our Agriparks must increasingly operate as commercial platforms, rather than simply as sites where farmers receive support.
“Government must use partnerships to bring capital, expertise, markets and proven operating models into this system, while judging our success increasingly by outputs and economic impact rather than by the number of inputs or grants distributed.”
She said the department wanted an agricultural economy that created commercially viable enterprises, increased food production, contributed to employment and food security, and placed historically excluded farmers, particularly women and young people, in a stronger position within agricultural value chains.
Citing Statistics South Africa data, Ramokgopa said women headed 52.9% of South Africa’s agricultural households in 2022, while Gauteng accounted for 24% of women-headed agricultural households involved in fruit and vegetable production, the highest share of any province.
However, women accounted for only 20.5% of owners of farming and related services enterprises and 15.6% of farm managers in the commercial agricultural economy.
“Women already participate extensively. Our challenge is to change the economic position from which they participate by creating pathways towards commercial scale, stronger markets, management, ownership and asset accumulation.”
Ramokgopa said aggregation could help small producers overcome the disadvantages of operating individually by combining volumes and making shared infrastructure, grading, packaging and transport more efficient.
“Transport can become more efficient. Buyers have a more reliable source of supply, while farmers gain greater market presence and bargaining power.
“This is important because scale does not always have to begin with one farmer becoming very large. Scale can also be created by organising many smaller farmers effectively.”
She said Gauteng had the advantage of a large consumer market on its doorstep, but the province needed to organise production more effectively so small farmers could collectively respond to demand.
“That means understanding what the market requires, coordinating farmers around those requirements, improving consistency and standards, aggregating volumes and building the infrastructure necessary to move produce efficiently from the farm into the market.”
The department currently has eight Agriparks operating across Gauteng, with Ramokgopa saying their success should increasingly be measured by whether farmers could produce competitively, reach markets, generate income, employ people, reinvest and eventually operate sustainably.
“This is consistent with the broader Gauteng vision set out in GGT2030 and our agricultural strategy, which connects Agriparks to township and rural economic development, employment creation, economic inclusion, food security, agro-processing and commercially sustainable agricultural enterprises.”
At Tarlton, the partnership between the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), the Nedbank Foundation and Rural Box Foundation has funded irrigation and fertigation systems, storage facilities, a packhouse and other productive farming infrastructure.
Ten of the 11 enterprises being incubated are women-led and six are youth-led. Each has access to a one-hectare farming unit, as well as irrigation, production inputs, training and mentorship.
Ramokgopa said infrastructure such as the packhouse, which allows produce to be aggregated, graded and prepared for market, had to form part of a commercial system rather than being treated as the end product of government support.
“Our ambition is for Agriparks increasingly to become places where farmers are organised around markets, where shared infrastructure lowers the cost of doing business, where production can be aggregated, where standards can be improved and where businesses can progress towards commercial independence.”
She said South Africa’s agricultural sector expanded by 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026, recording its sixth consecutive quarter of growth, driven particularly by field crops and horticultural products.
However, agriculture lost about 15,000 jobs in the second quarter, while the official unemployment rate rose to 33.6%.
“The lesson is important. Growth in an economic sector does not automatically produce inclusion, employment or new ownership.
“Those outcomes have to be deliberately built into the way we develop the sector.
“This is why our focus is increasingly moving from farmer support towards farmer commercialisation.”
She said government had traditionally assessed agricultural programmes through measures such as the number of farmers supported, hectares planted, inputs distributed, training delivered and grants allocated, but these could not be the final measure of success.
“The more important measures are what the farmer produces, what the farmer sells, what revenue the enterprise generates, whether it has secured repeat customers, whether it creates employment, whether it can attract finance and whether it eventually becomes strong enough to operate without permanent government support.”
Ramokgopa said market access should also become part of production planning, with farmers knowing before planting what buyers required in terms of volumes, quality, specifications, timing and prices.
“The market should shape production decisions, rather than becoming an afterthought once produce is already ready for sale.
“Aggregation gives us a practical mechanism to make that possible because it creates an organised point at which farmers, buyers, logistics providers and technical partners can meet.”
She said partnerships such as those with the Nedbank Foundation and Rural Box Foundation allowed government to combine public infrastructure and institutional support with private-sector resources, enterprise-development expertise, mentorship and market-oriented thinking.
“The significance of partnership, however, extends beyond additional funding. Government must be willing to learn from partners who understand how successful commercial operations work.”
Ramokgopa said government’s role was increasingly to “organise the ecosystem”.
She said partnerships could also make public money go further by attracting additional resources, expertise and market opportunities rather than requiring the state to fund every aspect of an enterprise indefinitely.
The ultimate goal of incubation, she said, was to produce bankable agricultural enterprises.
“A farmer with reliable production records, credible financial information, quality compliance, regular customers and demonstrated ability to fulfil orders represents a fundamentally different proposition to a financial institution from an entrepreneur who has been given inputs but has never established a commercial track record.
“That distinction is crucial if we want businesses to graduate.”
Ramokgopa also stressed the economic case for bringing more women into commercial agriculture, citing Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that closing gender gaps in farm productivity and agricultural wages could generate nearly $1 trillion in additional global GDP and reduce the number of food-insecure people by about 45 million.
“These are not marginal gains. They tell us that women’s economic empowerment in agriculture is fundamentally about productivity, growth and food security.”
For the 11 entrepreneurs entering the programme, she said the objective was not permanent incubation but progression towards higher output, stronger revenues, larger markets, additional investment and commercial independence.
“We want this one hectare to become a foundation from which viable businesses are built.”
“We want enterprises that eventually become employers, suppliers, processors and aggregators in their own right.”
Ramokgopa said lessons from Tarlton should inform the development of Gauteng’s other Agriparks.
“If aggregation works here, we must scale it. If a partnership model produces stronger commercial results, we must replicate it. If an operating model allows farmers to become sustainable more quickly, government should not be afraid to borrow that model and apply it elsewhere.”
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