INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY

AGRITECH

This was a key message from the sixth Datacentrix Agri Indaba, which brought together agricultural and technology leaders, industry experts and customers to examine the sector’ s economic outlook and the role of digital transformation.

Held under the theme‘ Cultivating a Smarter, Connected, Resilient Agri Future’, the event explored how data, artificial intelligence( AI), connectivity, automation and cybersecurity can improve agricultural productivity and resilience.

Wandile Sihlobo, South Africa’ s Presidential Envoy on Agriculture and Land and Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa( Agbiz), described the sector’ s current outlook as one of‘ mixed fortunes’.

Favourable summer rainfall has supported crop production during the 2025 / 26 season, while livestock producers continue to face foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever. Wheat producers are also struggling with rising input costs and declining profitability, while port bottlenecks and higher shipping costs are affecting agricultural exports.

Despite these challenges, Sihlobo estimated that agricultural output could grow by approximately 8 % in 2026.

The sector remains a significant contributor to employment and exports, with around 944,000 people employed in primary agriculture during the second quarter of 2026.

Agricultural exports increased by approximately 10 % year on year in the second quarter, while first-half exports reached US $ 7.8 billion. South Africa’ s agricultural exports reached a record US $ 15.1 billion in 2025.

However, Sihlobo cautioned that stronger production and exports do not necessarily translate into improved profitability, particularly when logistics constraints and trade barriers increase costs.

Looking ahead, Sihlobo warned that El Niño could bring drier conditions during the 2026 / 27 agricultural season.

With only around 20 % of South Africa’ s food crops under irrigation, much of the sector remains vulnerable to rainfall variability.

Depending on the severity of El Niño, agricultural output could contract by approximately 6 % in 2027, potentially pushing food-price inflation to between 5 % and 6 %.

These risks highlight the importance of improving agricultural resilience through better information, connectivity and datadriven decision-making.

Ahmed Mahomed, Group CEO of Datacentrix, emphasised that technology investments must address specific business challenges rather than become objectives in themselves.

“ Technology has a role to play, but the starting point must be the business challenge,” added Mahomed.“ Agriculture operates in an environment where productivity, logistics, market access, weather conditions and profitability are closely linked. Technology should therefore be applied where it can provide meaningful insight, improve decision making, support operational continuity or address a specific business constraint.”

Datacentrix advocates a technologyagnostic approach, working with customers to identify appropriate solutions based on operational and strategic requirements.

The discussions also highlighted the importance of data sovereignty, local infrastructure, cybersecurity and contingency planning as agricultural businesses become increasingly dependent on connected systems and digital services.

Collaboration between agricultural businesses, industry associations and technology providers could help extend digital capabilities across the sector, including smaller farming operations.

Mahomed emphasised that addressing agricultural challenges requires coordinated efforts across the value chain.

“ South Africa’ s agricultural sector has demonstrated its capacity to grow, create employment and compete in international markets, but there are a number of limitations that need to be addressed,” said Mahomed.“ Collaboration will be important, as will the ability to make informed technology choices that support productivity and resilience. The opportunity is not simply to digitalise agriculture, but to use technology purposefully to help address the challenges facing the sector.”

The event was supported by technology partners including Cohesity, Comsol Networks, Fortinet, HP Inc., HPE Networking, Inferrix, Kaspersky, ManageEngine, Nutanix, Hikvision and Utimaco. •

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