About Us

Conceptualization

Government of South Africa recognizes the problems facing smallholder farmers, and it is keen to take necessary steps to address the situation. Amongst others, these problems include:

  • Delays by government support services; for example, in the supply of farm inputs and infrastructure;
  • Inadequate credit and financial support and virtual absence of agricultural extension agents as impeding the development of their activities;
  • Constrains to participate in the modern economy; that is, most of the smallholder farmers have limited access to credit and insurance, and to markets in which to sell their produce. Also, agricultural markets are more often not working for the smallholder producers;
  • Agriculture a contributor to climate change and variability and itself being the most affected by the effect of climate change and variability;
  • Agriculture not delivering positive nutrition outcomes;
  • Women and young people not maximally participating and benefiting from agriculture food system value chains;
  • Lack of access to information; in part, due to limited use of Information and communications technology (ICT); and
  • Unconducive policy environment in some areas and uncoordinated support services.
Farm
AgriBusiness makes up the basic fabric of life.

- Justification -

Against this back drop, the 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA), delivered by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, underscored the importance of agriculture and need for agrarian (land and water management) reform:

Value Proposition

There is consensus that agriculture represents the predominant land use and is a major component of social, economic and environmental sustainability in South Africa. Madzix Group Companies (MGC) (Pty) Ltd and its entities are convinced that agribusiness makes up the basic fabric of life. That is, agriculture contributes significantly in terms of food and nutrition security, employment and business opportunities, infrastructure development, and quality of the environment. The timely and distinguished MGC(Pty) Ltd business proposition has the South African Development Plan (NDP) 2030 at its core; specifically, NDP Outcome 7. NDP Outcome 7 seeks to ensure that rural people have access to quality services which improve their incomes, quality of life and livelihoods.

Underpinning the “value proposition” are the two foundation issues depicted below form the core of MGC’s (Pty) Ltd work. The heart of our work is to ensure prosperous agriculture businesses while the pinnacle – indicating what success will look like – is sustainable livelihoods for the ultimate beneficiaries who are in the rural, peri-urban and urban areas.

Overview

MGC (Pty) Ltd Business Proposition Conceptual Framework

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For inclusive socio-economic development, these focus areas require deliberate policy and institutional reforms. There is some progress in each of the three sectors individually; however, synergy is still lacking because these intertwined socio-economic development issues are currently addressed separately due to the structural design of the government departments based on their service delivery mandate. Furthermore, much-anticipated reforms are constrained by challenges within government departments’ configurations.

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Overview
South Africa must embark on agricultural industrialization and add value to all its agricultural commodities.

To broker the intra- and inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder relations, pertinent questions related to much needed reform are:

  • Why is addressing this disconnect important (i.e. the motivation)?
  • What are the challenges and opportunities within each stakeholder organisation and across?
  • What is in it for each of the role players (i.e. interest)?
    - Specifically, (i) how can capacities for each be improved and (ii) how can women and youth interest be addressed?
  • How can the issues be resolved (i.e. what are the best practices and decisions)?
  • Who gains and losses from the proposed reforms?
  • What works, where and how (i.e. what are the lessons for scaling-out and scaling-up)?