Key findings: P1101 - Agricultural survey, 2019

Total income

Total income earned in the agriculture and related services industry was R351,4 billion in 2019 compared with R314,0 billion in 2017. The total income figures reflect an annualised increase of 5,8% between 2017 and 2019. In 2019, ‘animals and animal products’ generated the largest sales (R153,1 billion), followed by ‘horticultural crops and products’ (R86,3 billion) and ‘field crops’ (R61,9 billion). The highest annualised percentage increase was recorded for income earned from the sale of ‘animals and animal products’ (9,1%), followed by ‘horticultural crops and products’ (8,0%) and ‘field crops’ (2,2).


Concentration ratios

In 2019, the 100 largest enterprises (in terms of total income) in the agriculture and related services industry contributed 26,5% of total income. The concentration ratios in the agricultural industry increased in all the categories between 2017 and 2019.


Income by enterprise size

Large enterprises contributed 60,2% or R211,3 billion of the total income in 2019, followed by small enterprises with a contribution of 22,4% or R78,8 billion. Micro enterprises and medium enterprises contributed 9,1% and 8,3% respectively.
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Total expenditure

Total expenditure incurred by the farming sector for 2019 was R330,4 billion compared with R289,1 billion in 2017 (an annualised increase of 6,9%). The highest contributor to total expenditure was ‘purchases’ with 51,7%, followed by ‘salaries and wages’ (13,1%), ‘repairs and maintenance’ (5,3%) and ‘depreciation’ (4,6%).

Capital expenditure

The total capital expenditure on new assets in the agriculture and related services industry in 2019 amounted to R23,3 billion compared with R28,6 billion in 2017, an annualised decrease of 9,8%. ‘Motor vehicles, plant, machinery, tractors and other transport’ reported the largest decrease ( R4,8 billion, from R18,5 billion to R13,7 billion).


Employment

The total number of persons employed in the agriculture and related services industry as at the end of June 2019 was 768 171 compared with 764 428 in June 2017, an annualised increase of 0,2%.