The Influence of Policy on the Roles of Agriculture in South Africa

The purpose in this paper is to provide a framework for the analysis of the relationship between different macroeconomic, sector and commodity policies and the multiplier effects of agriculture. To this end, the paper starts with a listing of the macroeconomic, sector and commodity policies that have been included in the analysis. This should be considered in conjunction with the likely roles of agriculture along each of the dimensions of the environmental, social, poverty and cultural roles of agriculture. These policies and roles should be conceptualised as the vertical and horizontal axes respectively of a ‘policy-role' matrix. The ‘cells' of this matrix, i.e. the policy-role interactions, are discussed in the final two sections with respect to the immediate macroeconomic, agricultural economic, institutional and social impact of the policy change on the agricultural sector at farm, regional, national and multinational levels, and thereafter on the role of agriculture in terms of each of the dimensions identified above.