GROWTH, EQUITY, AND A JUST TRANSITION IN THE BEEF SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA

The document examines the tensions between the industrial growth strategy of South Africa's beef sector and the goals of a just transition. It highlights a 'dualistic' industry where commercial production is highly concentrated and intensive, while smallholder farmers face significant barriers to market entry. The report argues that current efforts to integrate smallholders into commercial value chains may benefit only a small elite and fail to address broader agrarian inequalities. Ecologically, it notes that beef cattle are the largest source of agricultural GHG emissions in South Africa, primarily through enteric fermentation. While the industry promotes 'sustainable intensification' and regenerative grazing, the report cautions that these may not offset total emissions growth and may not address the socio-economic distribution of emissions. It concludes that a just transition requires setting ambitious emission limits, redistributing productive resources like land, and reconfiguring labour markets to improve conditions for farm workers.

• The South African beef industry is characterized by 'dualistic' inequalities: a predominantly white-owned commercial sector that is capital-intensive and concentrated, and a diverse smallholder sector, predominantly Black, that often operates on communal land with limited commercial inputs.
• The industry's growth strategy focuses on increasing exports to Asia and the Middle East, aiming to raise exports from 5% to at least 24% of production and increase overall output by 35% by 2030.
• Smallholder farmers face substantial barriers to entering the commercial value chain, including lack of access to advanced genetics, high input costs, limited land tenure, and strict biosecurity requirements from feedlots.
• Beef cattle are the primary source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa, accounting for approximately 64.5% of direct livestock emissions in 2020, which represents about 6.7% of the country's total emissions.
• There is a significant 'carbon inequality' in the sector; while cattle owned by poor households have the highest emissions intensity, these households contribute marginally to total national emissions compared to high-income earners.
• Climate change acts as a 'stress multiplier' that disproportionately affects smallholder farmers, who suffer greater livestock losses and slower herd recovery after droughts compared to commercial farmers who have better access to finance and technical support.
• The 'sustainable intensification' and regenerative grazing approaches promoted by the industry may not be a 'silver bullet' for emissions, as increased forage production can lead to more cattle and higher overall methane emissions.

APA

BENNIE, A., & BOWMAN, A. (2024). GROWTH, EQUITY, AND A JUST TRANSITION IN THE BEEF SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-beef-with-climate-change_Guidance-Memo.pdf

Chicago

BENNIE, ANDREW, and ANDREW BOWMAN. GROWTH, EQUITY, AND A JUST TRANSITION IN THE BEEF SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA. Institute for Economic Justice, 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-beef-with-climate-change_Guidance-Memo.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=BENNIE |first1=ANDREW |last2=BOWMAN |first2=ANDREW |title=GROWTH, EQUITY, AND A JUST TRANSITION IN THE BEEF SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=September 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-beef-with-climate-change_Guidance-Memo.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bennie2024growth, author = {BENNIE, ANDREW and BOWMAN, ANDREW}, title = {{GROWTH, EQUITY, AND A JUST TRANSITION IN THE BEEF SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-beef-with-climate-change_Guidance-Memo.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }