The South African reports that the visit was conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, as well as the Committee on Employment and Labour this past weekend. The committees conducted a joint oversight visit on three farms in the Matlosana Local Municipality on the living and working conditions of farmworkers, farm-dwellers and labour tenants. The committees found that on some farms, workers were being underpaid and not being compensated for overtime work, while on other farms, workers lived in shacks with no water, electricity, or sanitation.

South Africa's agricultural exports lack sufficient diversification. The chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, Wandile Sihlobo, explains that export diversification contributes to a country's economic resilience, especially in the face of disruptions in global supply chains, or if one of the major markets imposes non-tariff barriers to protect its producers against competition. Sihlobo further shares that more recently, the agricultural sector has seen how the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war destabilised global supply chains, with many countries relocating these domestically. The pandemic and geopolitical frictions have also raised a sense of protectionism, especially in the European Union.

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Is there a difference between a fitness instructor and a farmer? Well, if you'd ask Tumelo Pedi, a former fitness instructor turned farmer, he would answer "no". According to him, both require patience and hard work to achieve optimum results. Pedi farms just outside Bloemfontein in the Free State on a farm that he acquired through the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. He shares that even though he never planned on becoming a farmer, once the agriculture bug bit him, it was difficult to not venture into the farming sector. The 30-year-old farms with cattle and sheep and also buys and sells sheep and goats. In conjunction with this, he plants lucerne and teff for feed for his livestock.

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