Minister of agriculture John Steenhuisen says the department’s planned agri-hubs have not yet been operationalised because the immediate priority is to establish farmer production support units. Steenhuisen was responding to a written question from EFF MP Laetitia Arries, who sought information on delays in implementing rural development projects intended to bolster food security and local economies. The agri-parks programme was formally launched in 2015 under the department of rural development & land reform to revitalise agriculture, encourage rural industrialisation and support emerging farmers.
The programme was designed to establish one agri-park per district municipality, amounting to 44 sites nationally. Each agri-park was to consist of three interlinked components: farmer production support units, agri-hubs and rural-urban market centres. The support units were to be the first phase, serving as rural outreach and support centres for smallholder farmers, providing inputs, mechanisation, extension services, training and limited local processing within a 30km radius.
The units aim to increase production volumes and stabilise primary agriculture, thereby creating the throughput necessary for downstream value-added services. Agri-hubs, the second pillar, are intended to serve as centres for agro-processing, packaging, logistics, equipment hire, innovation and training. Their importance lies in taking agricultural activity beyond subsistence and raw production into structured value chains, enabling rural economies to capture greater economic benefit.
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Rural-urban market centres were designed to link rural producers to urban and international markets, provide market intelligence and manage the seasonal release of produce. Government reports and public statements confirm that farmer production support units have been partially rolled out, with infrastructure handed over in provinces such as the Eastern Cape, including the Zanyokwe unit in 2025. However, agri-hubs remain largely unimplemented, with the department emphasising that they cannot be sustained until the support units are fully functional.
Other challenges Steenhuisen highlighted include escalating construction costs, underperformance by contractors, crime and disruption by construction mafias, vandalism and theft of infrastructure, delays in securing land permissions from traditional authorities, stakeholder conflicts, budgetary constraints and organisational restructuring. These factors have delayed the rollout of the support units, and so delaying the development of agri-hubs. Without agri-hubs, rural economies cannot access the processing, packaging and market linkages necessary to transform subsistence farming into sustainable livelihoods.
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