On the 8th of September, as you leave SAPPO’s AGM + EXPO, you should feel that the pig industry’s strategy is going to effectively respond to the expected discomfort of the decade ahead. Equally, you should feel incredibly unsettled by the state of the entire South African livestock industry – specifically the pig industry. Ironically, this may seem like two opposing outcomes, but should rather highlight the fact that all of us should be truthful and realistic about the state of affairs and accept that collectively we can mitigate risks and execute on opportunities on an industry level.
The macro-trends that are shaping the agricultural business landscape such as biosecurity, state decay, regulatory inefficiencies, lack of infrastructure, and heightened inflation are indicative of a future of self-regulation and optimised value chain collaboration. The combination of our industry interventions such as Pork 360, its people and risk-based development approach, the digital interventions constituting the World of Pork, and innovative, customer-driven marketing is the foundation that we should aim to scale and amplify in the coming months. Importantly, each element should be seen as part of a whole that is strategically and operationally interdependent. Moreover, it should be evaluated within the context of the material risks across the entire value chain and spanning both the two worlds – the formal and informal industries.
Across organised agriculture, as industry organisations evolve into service organisations that actively mitigate risks and design voluntary behaviour-regulating standards such as Pork 360, the onus of its strategic success will be determined by value chain collaboration. This may sound far-fetched and akin to passing responsibility – even shifting blame. Yet, the practical reality that one farmer’s delivery of ASF-infected pigs to an abattoir that various other farmers are dependent on, highlights the interdependence of our sustainability. The unwillingness of value chain actors to adopt technology that can digitally certify the movement of animals across our value chain is illustrative of the behaviour that will impede the industry’s collective future success.
As a leadership team, we look forward to reflecting on the state of our industry and to collectively scaling the impact we can have across our value chain and the livestock industry.
The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
