South African Agri-Processing Resource Efficiency : Opportunities, Challenges and Outlook

South Africa’s agri-processing sector is a key driver of economic growth, as it contributes to value addition, job creation and exports. Increasing water scarcity, combined with rising costs of energy and fuel, is threatening the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector. IFC’s Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services (MAS) Advisory team, in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), launched a four-year program, the Agribusiness Resource Efficiency Project in South Africa (APRE), to address market challenges and help the industry transition to better water and resource efficiency practices. The program aims to improve water use efficiency, reduce overall water consumption, and mitigate water supply risks in the sector. In January through May 2019, the IFC project team, with support from GreenCape, one of the leading agencies in the resource efficiency space in South Africa, and with inputs from the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), one of the largest industry associations, has conducted a study of opportunities for reduction of water use in agri-processing, analyzed persisting barriers for better efficiency and highlighted possible areas for improvement at the level of the firms, within the sector as a whole as well as in the policy and regulatory framework.