Globally, three key arguments are emphasized as to why family farming is the cornerstone of sustainable rural development. Firstly, family farmers support economies beyond the borders of urban areas. Secondly, family farming can effectively prevent and limit urbanisation and poverty. Thirdly, it maintains discipline, stability, and values in rural environments.
Rural community leaders agree that schools, churches, and cooperatives or agriculture-based businesses are indispensable for the survival of rural towns. When any one of these disappears, a town begins to lose its identity and vitality, becoming merely a skeleton of what it once was, as people are drawn to larger towns and cities. No sector accommodates a greater diversity of entrepreneurs or creates a broader spectrum of employment opportunities on farms as well as upstream and downstream in value chains than family farming. Family farming can rightly be regarded as the glue that holds rural communities together.
The Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai) was established amidst these challenges and within the reality of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Saai is a network of shared agricultural interests, for farmers by farmers, committed to protecting and promoting the rights, values, ideals, and needs of family farmers within the primary production sector.
Farmers today are compelled to face a multitude of challenges, including land reform, safety risks, restrictive trade measures, climate change, and a lack of development, training, energy, resources, water, rural infrastructure, technology, and access to finance in agriculture. These realities place immense pressure on family farmers and threaten the sustainability of rural communities.
As an interest group, Saai is committed not merely to hoping for policy adjustments but to playing an active role in developing and implementing strategic and practical solutions to these and other agricultural challenges. In doing so, Saai aims to ensure that family farming not only survives but also grows, thrives, and continues to form the backbone of rural Southern Africa.
Saai sees itself as a vehicle to pursue the above matters, not as a traditional agricultural union, but rather as a network built on cooperation and the application of modern technology and sound principles. Family farmers in Southern Africa, where Saai provides services, are not only large or small, rich or poor, old or young, black or white, established or emerging, male or female. They are families who, through their management and cultivation of primary products from the land, develop businesses.
Saai has access to expert partners that enable us to examine a wide spectrum of issues under the microscope on the basis of cooperation agreements with and mutual support from agricultural businesses, trade organisations, research institutions, interest organisations in other sectors and agricultural organisations that focus on different support bases. It is for this reason that Saai regards existing agricultural unions and organisations that share our values as partners in achieving our goal, and unites rather than divides. Saai regards agribusinesses and government as important role players in promoting agricultural trade and will continuously strive to promote cooperation with these parties if it benefits our farmers. The interests of farmers and these parties do not always align.
Saai strives for an agriculture-friendly future and believes that our network must reflect this conviction in its essence and structure. We apply needs-driven technology for recruitment, the provision of mandates, and business-oriented action. This approach enables Saai to communicate directly with our members. In light of the risks that farmers must consider daily, it is a priority to keep them informed of events affecting their interests and to equip them to promote their interests through collective action.
Saai originated within the ethos and framework of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Family Farming 2019-2029 and views the Southern African agricultural sector as one with a shared future and as integrated with agricultural developments and food systems on the African continent and globally.
Although influencing policy-making is Saai's most prominent function, it is not the only one. Saai extends beyond policy influence to concrete action such as projects, active campaigns and interventions. These matters are guided by policy aligned with the values and interests of farmers and the relevant time and circumstances. Where policy or policy implementation fails, as often happens in South Africa, Saai can go beyond policy influence and develop alternative structures or systems to serve the interests and needs of farmers.
Saai has identified 17 areas for applying its values for the benefit of family farming in South and Southern Africa. These are discussed below.
Saai combats poverty through wealth creation, an approach that has historically proven effective and sustainable. No sector in Southern Africa can address poverty faster, cheaper and on a larger scale than agriculture, provided governments implement policies that promote sustainable and profitable farming. Saai therefore focuses on market-driven and profitable agriculture in the poorest areas and works with network partners on agricultural development projects in these communities.
Expropriation without compensation and the lack of certainty regarding property rights are major causes of economic decline, unemployment, and hunger and remain a core priority for Saai.
Saai regards basic services such as education, training, infrastructure, health, job creation, electricity and water as essential for rural development and poverty alleviation, and assists where possible in restoring or establishing these services.
Because ineffective economic policy has caused agricultural financing to collapse in many parts of Southern Africa, limiting farmers' growth, mechanisation and access to technology, Saai works on alternative solutions to support family farmers. Saai is also actively involved in private initiatives for disaster relief and technical assistance, free from political, race-based and other discriminatory measures.
Saai's vision is to help develop a world free from hunger, where everyone has access to food, especially in Africa. When people suffer from hunger, it negatively affects the peace and safety of family farmers.
Saai is convinced that the serious problem of malnutrition in Africa can only be countered through good access to protein. Therefore, Saai promotes increased livestock production, improved genetics and greater efficiency in dairy, pork, poultry and red meat farming. One reason for this is that large numbers of people in Africa do not have easy access to plant-based alternatives.
Because efficiency has a significant impact on markets, Saai believes that productivity, technology, commercialisation, modernisation and mechanisation of agriculture can combat hunger.
The fact that digital technology and biotechnology profoundly influence competition leads Saai to expose family farmers to the latest technology. Saai believes that technological advancement is only possible through research and development, innovative and high-quality training and investment.
It is also important to note that investment depends on safety, stability and a market-friendly policy environment. Saai therefore aims to promote sound business principles in national and regional policy. This includes ensuring ownership and a fair and level playing field in international trade.
Large distances from public services make family farmers vulnerable due to limited access to healthcare facilities. Therefore, Saai promotes physical and mental health in rural areas, taking into account South Africa's unique circumstances and the importance of personal, family and farm safety.
Due to the deterioration of public healthcare services and medical expertise, Saai supports private initiatives free from state interference.
Saai believes that people's diet and the quality of agricultural products are fundamental to global health. Consequently, Saai promotes traceability of agricultural products, combating antimicrobial resistance, shorter value chains for fresh products and the reduction of processed food.
Within the framework of a One Health system, Saai supports soil, plant and animal health, with the ultimate goal of promoting human health.
Education is the key to wealth creation and the fight against poverty and hunger. Saai is convinced that there is no sustainable future for family farmers without a radical improvement in education and training in South Africa.
Saai advocates for a stronger and more effective education system, with a specific focus on:
Where education, and especially agricultural training, is undermined by ideological, political or unlawful actions, or where learners and students are discriminated against, Saai supports the development of private, self-sustaining institutions. These institutions must be free from state interference and focus solely on excellence.
Through this approach, Saai contributes to broadening skills and expertise within society and helps limit unemployment. Saai supports universally accepted scientific standards and principles and actively works to promote them throughout the education system.
Saai supports gender equality and therefore does not discriminate against supporters, leadership, employees, services and activities based on gender. No person is favoured or rejected on the basis of their gender.
Saai advocates for an agricultural environment where gender plays no role in ownership, management, opportunities and financing. Within the framework of Saai's fundamental commitment to family farmers, the survival of healthy families is a priority and a criterion by which positions and actions are evaluated.
The foundation of Saai's view on water is that sufficient clean water must be available for primary use, and the sustainable use and management of water resources for livestock and crop production.
Because no production can take place without water, Saai advocates for fair and equitable management of water resources for all people. All forms of water pollution must be combated and Saai will, where necessary, promote access to and equal allocation of water to family farmers.
Recycling, and both the creation and maintenance of infrastructure, are regarded as priorities for the functioning and survival of family farmers.
Representation of family farmers' interests regarding policy-making and water management structures at all levels is important. Saai advocates for a regulatory system free from political, ideological and corrupt interference.
Free access to electricity, fuel and other forms of energy is a prerequisite for achieving the policy objectives discussed above and those that will be discussed further, and to successfully combat hunger and poverty in Africa.
However, it is true that especially rural areas in Southern Africa still have much to do to reach this point. Even in areas where energy is available and accessible, it is mainly generated from fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
Saai advocates for reliable access to affordable electricity and fuel for rural families, for renewable sources in this regard, and for opportunities for family farmers to farm using energy generated from renewable sources on their own farms.
Energy is an important diversification opportunity for family farmers, and Saai advocates for a policy environment in which families can also farm profitably with energy.
The agricultural sector has more potential than other industries to create sustainable employment opportunities in remote rural areas where such opportunities are truly needed.
To achieve this goal, it is essential that a policy environment be created that stimulates job creation. Furthermore, it is important that the economic contribution, productivity and value of each worker exceed the risk they represent within the regulatory framework.
Family farmers should, as employers, have the freedom to dismiss employees who do not meet the needs of the family enterprise or do not fit within its ethos.
The conditions for a job-creation-friendly policy environment are similar to those for investment and economic growth, which in the Southern African context are based on free-market principles and property rights.
Saai supports equal pay for equal work, production-based remuneration and freedom of choice, association and opportunity. Saai rejects any form of discrimination based on race, gender and age, any form of forced labour and slavery, child labour, human trafficking and exploitation.
Employment and job opportunities are directly proportional to skills, training and economic growth. These important aspects are linked by Saai to the attractiveness of investment in the agricultural industry.
According to Saai, agriculture in Africa can only play a full role as a creator of wealth and a vehicle for rural development if it modernises, mechanises and commercialises.
To achieve this goal, agriculture must be supported by good rural infrastructure such as roads, railways, connectivity, public services, water and more. Although the state must take responsibility for these services, their absence in South Africa necessitates that, while pressure is placed on the state to deliver them, private initiatives take over these services as far as possible.
Agricultural financing is a major obstacle to agricultural development. Consequently, suitable access to financing for family farming is a priority with a view to both the industrialisation of value chains and infrastructure development.
Saai not only advocates for the interests of family farming, but also focuses on the digitalisation of farming practices and the introduction of new technologies to increase competitiveness.
Saai views equality as an input rather than an outcome and, given the outcomes of communist and socialist experiments of the past century, avoids redistribution, expropriation or forced transactions to achieve equality.
Saai believes that equality can be achieved by creating equal opportunities, especially in education, training and policy that encourages job creation based on performance and production.
Saai opposes unproductive individuals, groups and entities receiving the same compensation and greater recognition as their productive counterparts. Countries with policy frameworks that are unfriendly to job creation, investment or business have more unequal outcomes compared to countries that encourage productivity, investment and performance.
Poor countries with corrupt governments cannot claim the same outcomes as countries where responsibility, accountability and honesty are respected values.
Urbanisation is changing the world drastically, but Saai believes that strong family farming in rural areas can halt and even reverse this trend by offering a sustainable alternative to city life for young families.
This can be achieved by developing viable towns where schools, churches and businesses flourish and where family farmers can collaborate on collective value addition. Cities remain important markets for food and fibre, therefore positive communication and cooperation with urban communities are essential.
Droughts, fires and unrest seriously threaten the survival of towns and family farming. The state should initiate comprehensive disaster relief programmes, but where this is lacking, Saai becomes involved in independent, non-discriminatory and transparent initiatives that operate free from state control.
Rural safety is one of the greatest challenges for communities and farmers. Therefore, Saai forms partnerships in support of farm watches, neighbourhood watches and other security structures to protect communities.
Consumers form the most important target group for family farmers: they determine what, how and how much should be produced. Consumers' preferences guide production processes, and consumers themselves are becoming increasingly informed and demanding.
Saai's policy, projects and communication are aimed at building and maintaining trust and understanding among consumers.
Climate change affects few professional groups as intensely as it affects farmers, and small and medium-scale family farms do not have effective buffers to protect themselves against it.
Saai supports efforts to reduce harmful greenhouse gases but believes that these mainly originate from the energy and transport sectors that depend on fossil fuels. The negative impact of these is incomparable to that of methane gas released by the livestock industry.
Saai promotes and protects sustainable livestock production on national and international forums as a solution to climate change and not as a problem.
Saai supports the continuous improvement of standards, traceability and transparency and remains at the forefront of digital technology to enable family farmers to comply. Both producers and consumers should act responsibly so that the food system can remain healthy.
Saai emphasises combating waste and losses in the food system and believes that this can be managed through measurability. Saai also considers the handling of chemical sprays and fertilisers as part of responsible production processes.
Saai is committed to combating marine pollution, especially the runoff of chemicals into water sources as a result of agricultural activities.
Family fishermen, like family farmers, are primary producers with shared interests, challenges and threats. Therefore, Saai will pursue and build network relationships with the organised family fishing industry.
Saai will cooperate with a view to sustainable, scientifically based use of the blue economy.
Saai considers the following matters as priorities because they are decisive for the long-term survival of family farming: the protection, conservation and promotion of the sustainable use of ecosystems on land, including combating desertification, deforestation of natural forests, soil erosion and soil depletion.
This includes the protection and promotion of biodiversity and ecosystems based on both land and freshwater. This leads to Saai also being involved in the protection of mountain areas, other catchment areas and all living species. Saai is therefore fundamentally opposed to illegal hunting, the invasion of exotic species and the destruction of ecosystems.
Saai accepts that agriculture cannot take place in harmony with nature, because nature does not provide the surpluses required to feed a rapidly growing global population. To produce surpluses, farmers are compelled to counteract the balancing functions of nature, for example through predation control and insect and weed control.
However, every farmer is aware of how he/she, as a steward of a piece of land, can allow nature to take its course and leave it in a better condition for future generations than it was received.
Saai believes that peace, justice, non-discrimination, self-governance and the decentralisation of power are essential for communities and states to flourish. Where democracy, the rule of law, law and order, separation of powers and respect for the constitution are absent, countries worldwide have experienced the collapse of agriculture, economies and stability.
Saai advocates for freedom of choice, speech, association and freedom from discrimination and poverty. The organisation arose at a time when state capture, corruption, incompetence and mismanagement had undermined basic freedoms and state functions to such an extent that the survival of family farming was threatened.
Saai forms part of a broader effort to establish sustainable, state-resilient structures through civil organisation, mobilisation and action.
History shows that the collapse of law and order, farm violence, expropriation without compensation and state interference in markets have devastating consequences. Therefore, Saai sees it as part of its mission to actively counter these phenomena.
Saai strives to influence national policy through persuasion, legal action, international pressure and protest actions so that a safe, free and prosperous environment can be created in which family farming can continue profitably and sustainably.
Corruption, maladministration, nepotism and cadre deployment must be ended by holding decision-makers and their beneficiaries accountable and responsible.
Against the background of Saai's network-based nature as an open-economy agricultural structure, the establishment of strong partnerships to achieve global and regional goals is not unusual.
Saai accepts that the main threats to family farms are universal in nature and that these threats can only be adequately addressed through collective action across national and continental borders.
Consequently, active membership and involvement in multinational organisations that also serve the interests of family farmers is a priority for Saai.