Sustainable Agriculture

Opportunities: fast facts

The biggest opportunities for farmers, green technology manufacturers and service providers are in:

Alternative energy sources and energy efficiency

Opportunities in energy audits and greener technologies for Western Cape’s 22,574 agriculture sector facilities, including packhouses and cold stores.

• Energy efficiency market: Estimated market for SA agriculture and agri-processing is R45.5 million, with significant scope for growth. In the wine sector, savings of up to ⅔ of energy costs has been realised.
• Solar PV in agriculture: Investments to date total R97.8 million with market size for solar-powered irrigation at R2.9 billion. With plummeting technology costs and municipalities allowing grid feed-in, the market potential is significant.

Water use efficiency technologies in irrigation

• Precision agriculture optimises farming inputs with savings of 30% in water using drip irrigation.

Conservation agriculture (CA)

• 70% of grain producers in Western Cape practice CA, with significant scope for expansion in other agriculture sectors.
• Market for manufacturing of no-till machinery is worth R1.14 billion, with opportunities for local manufacturing and export to the rest of Africa.

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA)

• CEA involves controlling the growing environment of a crop or animal through the use of technology (from netting to computerised systems).
• There are opportunities for local manufacture of CEA components and systems; private and equity finance; specialised skills.
• The market for CEA in the Western Cape is valued at R600 million with 15% growth per annum predicted.

GreenCape’s work in this space

Our work aims to drive the greening of agricultural value chain in the Western Cape in two ways:

• Growing the market for green technologies, systems and processes in agriculture and agri-processing.
• Developing sustainable and competitive agricultural value chains

We do this through GreenAgri and the support we provide through the agriculture sector desk – market intelligence, advocacy and networking opportunities to investors, businesses and farmers in the agriculture sector. For more information, see the links on the left.

For related tools, resources and information on the Sustainable Argriculture see the Library below.

VIEW & DOWNLOAD: Sustainable Argriculture