2023 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT

The 2023 Sustainable Agriculture Market Intelligence Report by GreenCape examines the transition to sustainable farming in South Africa, particularly in the Western Cape. It identifies key investment opportunities in renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, smart farming, and circular agriculture to mitigate climate risks such as water scarcity and rising temperatures. The report provides market sizing for specific technologies, discusses the impact of national policies like the Carbon Tax Act and the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan, and highlights the Western Cape's role as a greentech hub.

• The South African agricultural sector has shown resilience and growth, with year-on-year expansions of 14.9% in 2020 and 8.8% in 2021, and a total of 874,000 people employed in primary agriculture by the end of 2021.
• Climate change poses a significant threat to the Western Cape, where 13 of 23 identified relatively homogenous farming areas (RHFAs) face increasingly marginal productivity due to changing rainfall and rising temperatures.
• The Western Cape is a major contributor to South Africa's horticulture, generating 37% of the national horticultural farm income despite having less than 10% of the country's productive agricultural land.
• Solar drying technology represents an untapped market in South Africa with a projected Western Cape market size of R372 million, based on a 10% conversion of 3,084 total dryers.
• Regenerative agriculture adoption is highest in the Western Cape compared to other South African provinces, with a 51% adoption rate in 2021.
• Smart farming opportunities in the Western Cape include precision spraying via drones (R10 million/season for wheat and R1.8 million/season for fruit trees) and drip irrigation (estimated between R302 million and R1.5 billion).
• Circular agriculture through anaerobic digestion (AD) offers significant energy potential in the Western Cape over the next five years: 11 MW for crop production, 65 MW for dairy, 6 MW for piggery, and 99 MW for poultry.
• The Western Cape is the first South African province to announce an intention to ban organic waste from landfills by 2027, which may increase the availability of waste-to-energy technologies.
• The Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan (AAMP), signed in May 2022, aims to increase food security, promote sustainable transformation, and enhance resilience to climate change.

APA

Maseko, S. (2023). 2023 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AGRI_MIR_2023_DIGITAL_SINGLES.pdf

Chicago

Maseko, Sibusisiwe. 2023 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT. GreenCape, 2023. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AGRI_MIR_2023_DIGITAL_SINGLES.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maseko |first1=Sibusisiwe |title=2023 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT |publisher=GreenCape |date=2023 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AGRI_MIR_2023_DIGITAL_SINGLES.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maseko20232023, author = {Maseko, Sibusisiwe}, title = {{2023 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2023}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AGRI_MIR_2023_DIGITAL_SINGLES.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }