The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza says he is pleased with the agricultural sector's positive contribution to the creation of employment in the country. The latest  Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) data  released by Statistics SA showed that the agricultural sector has once again created new jobs amounting to 61,000 in the 3rd quarter, thus increasing the total employment in the sector to 956,000.  The department says this is the highest employment figure in agriculture since the start of the modern democratic era.  The QLFS indicated that the total number of employed persons in the country increased by 399,000 to 16,7 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 16,3 million in the second quarter of 2023. The department says this growth for the agricultural sector reflects positively, considering the negative growth it has reflected for the province in the previous quarterly labour force review which according to premier of the Northern Cape Zamani Saul  indicated a poor view of growth in the sector. Agriculture then indicated to be the sixth biggest  contributor to the province's economy, only accounting for 8%. The sector is one of the four biggest contributors towards employment on a national level. 

Journalist: Rene Julies
Email: rckjulies@gmail.com