The focus of the Conference was Africa’s lack of food security at present, the factors which need to be addressed to bring about food security, and the contribution which South Africa’s agribusiness sector can make towards promoting the objective of achieving food security in Africa.

Dr Kobus Laubscher, CEO of Grain S.A., in the keynote address, highlighted the trends which showed that, while consumer prices of food are rising, the proportion of the consumer rand which goes to the farmers has been declining. It is the increasing number of links in the value chain from farm gate to consumer that is underlying this trend. While prices to the farmer are as low as they are now, the incentive to produce food is diminished. Farmers are “price takers”, not “price makers” and therefore have little influence on consumer prices.

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