Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020

The report highlights a transition toward sustainable agriculture in South Africa, driven by climate change, water scarcity, and rising input costs. Key investment areas include undercover farming, renewable energy, conservation agriculture, precision agriculture, and urban agriculture. It emphasizes the Western Cape as a strategic hub for greentech due to its high-value export crop production and supportive government environment.

• The potential market for low-tech undercover farming (UF) in South Africa is estimated at R38 billion, with R1.9 billion of that in the Western Cape. The market for medium- to high-tech systems nationwide is valued at over R1 billion.
• The market for renewable energy in the agricultural sector is estimated between R945 million and R1.5 billion in 2019, with an installed capacity of 90 MW.
• Conservation agriculture (CA) adoption in South Africa is relatively low, with only 15% to 20% of commercial grain farmers and 5% of smallholder farmers practicing it. The market for no-till machinery is estimated between R136 million and R747 million.
• Remote sensing applications for precision agriculture represent an emerging market in South Africa. In the Western Cape, the current market estimate for irrigated agriculture is R37.5 million per year.
• Urban agriculture (UA) in South Africa is in its infancy, with rooftop hydroponic production in Johannesburg estimated at a conservative market size of R2.59 million to R3.94 million.
• The South African Carbon Tax Act No.15 of 2019, effective from 1 June 2019, does not include agriculture in its first phase (until December 2022), but farmers may face direct and indirect taxes from 2022 onwards.
• Climate change is a critical driver for the sector, with predictions that the Western Cape will experience a 50% decrease in rainfall by 2050.
• International market pressures, specifically synthetic chemical bans in the EU and strict compliance requirements in China, are driving the uptake of biocontrol, which grew from 2% to approximately 8% of the market.

APA

Kuschke, I. (2020). Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/AGRICULTURE_MARKET_INTELLIGENCE_REPORT_WEB.pdf

Chicago

Kuschke, Inge. Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020. GreenCape, 2020. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/AGRICULTURE_MARKET_INTELLIGENCE_REPORT_WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kuschke |first1=Inge |title=Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020 |publisher=GreenCape |date=2020 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/AGRICULTURE_MARKET_INTELLIGENCE_REPORT_WEB.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kuschke2020sustainable, author = {Kuschke, Inge}, title = {{Sustainable Agriculture: Market Intelligence Report 2020}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2020}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/AGRICULTURE_MARKET_INTELLIGENCE_REPORT_WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }