South Africa’s agricultural heartland, the backbone of national food security and rural livelihoods, is being strangled by collapsing rural road networks. This is not just a matter of potholes and inconvenience. It is a systemic threat that raises food prices, weakens farm businesses, and erodes the very foundations of the country’s food chain.
Roads That Carry a Nation’s Food
A 2022 AgriSA survey underscores the scale of the crisis. An overwhelming 94% of farm produce in South Africa travels by road. Every bag of maize, every box of fruit, and every load of fresh vegetables must move from farm to market over crumbling asphalt. These roads are no longer reliable arteries of commerce, but obstacles that choke efficiency and push costs ever higher.
The Hard Numbers
The AgriSA report laid bare the cost of neglect:
Crippling Costs: Farmers spend, on average, over R200,000 annually repairing vehicles damaged by poor roads. Across the sector, that translates into billions of rand drained away from investment and growth.
Revenue Losses: Of the 311 farmers surveyed, 309 reported serious operational challenges. On average, farms lose about 16% of turnover directly due to failing roads — through delays, mechanical breakdowns, and inflated fuel bills.
Farmers as Road Crews: With government slow to respond, nearly 70% of farmers reported taking road repairs into their own hands. Tractors and shovels meant for fields are now patching potholes.
Threat to Food Security: The consequence is clear. Higher transport costs flow through the value chain, leaving consumers with rising food prices and lower-quality produce that arrives late or spoiled.
These figures make one thing undeniable: South Africa’s rural roads are not just broken — they are breaking farms, families, and futures.
Promises of Repair
There are glimmers of progress. Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen recently highlighted a pilot project in the Free State, led jointly by AgriSA, the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), and government. The initiative focuses on repairing critical farm-to-market routes.
“This collaboration is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships,” Steenhuisen said. He is right: these partnerships are essential. Farmers and agribusiness bring local knowledge and urgency, while government has resources and mandate. Together, they can target the routes most vital to keeping food flowing.
Yet a single pilot is not enough. Experts warn that without a scaled, nationwide program, rural communities will remain trapped in a cycle of repairs, losses, and declining competitiveness.
The Bigger Picture
The consequences of inaction stretch far beyond potholes and transport delays. Rural roads are lifelines. They connect farmers to markets, children to schools, workers to jobs, and patients to clinics. When they collapse, so do the prospects of rural South Africa.
For small-scale and emerging farmers, the crisis is especially devastating. Margins are already razor thin. An extra R200,000 in road-related costs can spell the difference between survival and failure. If these farmers collapse, the country loses not only food producers, but also the promise of a more inclusive agricultural economy.
A Call That Cannot Be Ignored
Fixing South Africa’s rural roads is not simply a matter of convenience. It is about keeping food affordable, sustaining jobs, and protecting the nation’s food security. The AgriSA report is more than a survey — it is a warning flare.
Every day of delay drives up costs, weakens farms, and pushes more rural communities into crisis. South Africa cannot afford to keep patching over the problem. It must rebuild — with urgency, with commitment, and with a vision of rural roads as the true arteries of a healthy, thriving nation.
When roads fail, the food chain fails. And when the food chain fails, the nation suffers.