IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

The number of households engaged in agriculture (also referred to as agricultural households in this report) was 2,33 million in 2016 compared with 2,88 million in 2011. This represents a decrease of 19,1% between the two years. The bulk of households engaged in agriculture in South Africa were in KwaZulu-Natal (23,0% of country's total), Eastern Cape (21,3%) and Limpopo (16,6%) in 2016. Free State, Western Cape and Northern Cape reported the lowest numbers of households engaged in agriculture, with 6,8%, 3,0% and 2,1% (of country’s total) respectively.

Within the provinces, the highest proportion of households that were engaged in agriculture in 2016 was 27,9% in Eastern Cape, down from 35,4% in 2011. This was followed by 24,1% in Limpopo (33,0% in 2011) and 18,6% in KwaZulu-Natal (28,2% in 2011). Western Cape and Gauteng recorded the lowest participation rates, with 3,6% (5,2% in 2011) and 4,9% (7,1% in 2011) respectively.