The crisis in brief:
- Saai is a national network of family farmers. Our members depend on reliable access to fertilisers, animal feeds, agricultural remedies and stock remedies, all of which are regulated under the Fertilisers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act 36 of 1964 (“Act 36”).
- Over more than a decade, the regulatory office (the office of the Registrar of Act 36) has suffered serious dysfunction, as previously flagged in a Ministerial Task Team Report of 2 September 2011. However, this has now grown into an even more serious failure in basic governance.
- Key problems: extreme delays in processing registrations and applications (sometimes up to six years); blocking of new technology and essential products from the market without real alternatives; lack of basic digital registration and case management infrastructure; reliance on physical, paper‑based storage; lack of sufficient qualified staff; extremely clogged registration system.
- The effect: farmers and veterinarians cannot access essential inputs; innovation and new product registration stall; harm to the profitability of farmers and general economic harm to the sector.
- The risk: food production, animal health, bio‑security and the agricultural value‑chain are now becoming directly exposed.
What Saai is demanding and why it matters
Saai has instructed our attorneys to direct a letter of demand to the Minister of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture and the Registrar of Act 36 in which we demand urgent remedial action from the state.
“Farmers are growing deeply concerned about the Department of Agriculture’s failure to intervene,” says Francois Rossouw, CEO of Saai. “It seems as though a six-year wait to register agricultural and veterinary medicines has become accepted as the norm. It is everything but normal.”
In 2011, a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) commissioned by the then Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, delivered a report on the Department’s inability to finalise registration applications for agricultural and stock remedies within reasonable timeframes. The MTT was formed as a result of litigation instituted against the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2009. The MTT’s recommendations have seemingly never been properly implemented.
“We urgently need a clear and honest account of what has been done by the Department, what remains outstanding, and a credible plan to fix the system. Farmers’ livelihoods, animal welfare, and our national food supply are at risk.”
Saai has been approached by numerous members of the farming, veterinary and agri-input industry as well as independent experts, all of whom have highlighted the severe and worsening crisis facing South African agriculture.
“There are critical agricultural and veterinary products that have been stuck in the Registrar’s backlog for years,” says Francois Rossouw, CEO of Saai. “Many of these applications involve proven technologies and alternatives to older remedies that are already approved and widely used in other countries. These are not extraordinary or untested substances requiring years of evaluation. The real issue is that in South Africa, these applications aren’t even being processed. This is not just a delay – it is a total administrative breakdown that blocks progress, sustainability, and competitiveness in our agricultural sector.”
This crisis is no longer speculation. Farmers are already feeling its consequences. In the Kakamas–Augrabies region of the Northern Cape, an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever (slenkdalkoors) has placed local livestock under serious threat. A vaccine application for this disease created as an alternative by the agri-input producer, Design Biologics, has been stalled in the Registrar’s backlog for years, despite being ready for manufacture and already approved by international regulators. “Design Biologics is but one example of how regulatory failure is endangering animal health, livelihoods, and food security,” says Francois Rossouw. “We are working with them and several other agri‑input producers who, like them, have pending applications for modern, safer and more advanced alternatives to current agricultural and veterinary products that are either no longer available or urgently needed. These innovations offer better outcomes for animal health and crop production. However, instead of progress, we are watching real outbreaks unfold while essential remedies gather dust in filing cabinets and on kitchen tables at the Registrar”
According to Saai’s Farmer Input Cost Index (FICI), farm input costs have been rising at roughly double the rate of consumer inflation in recent years, with sharp spikes in fertiliser, crop remedies, animal health products, fuel and electricity. These are precisely the inputs regulated under Act 36, and many of the cheaper, safer or more efficient formulations that could ease this cost pressure are stuck for years in the Registrar’s backlog. As a result, farmers are forced to rely on older, more expensive products or go without, while modern alternatives are already in use elsewhere in the world. Unblocking these registrations is one of the fastest, most practical ways for the government to relieve the cost pressure on producers and, ultimately, on consumers at the supermarket shelf.
Given how unsustainable the current situation has become, Saai is demanding that the state provide it with:
- A detailed report on the implementation status of the 2011 Ministerial Task Team (MTT) recommendations, including budget allocations and measures taken since 2024 to rebuild institutional and scientific capacity.
- A time-bound implementation plan with measurable deliverables to modernise systems, restore scientific functionality, fill vacant posts, clear the massive backlogs, and ensure the regulatory framework under Act 36 works as intended.
- A formal undertaking that immediate steps will be taken to stabilise and restore lawful, rational, and accountable functioning in the Registrar’s office, as well as a detailed roadmap of the specific steps that are to be taken.
Why can this not wait
The crisis is urgent and escalating. Farmers and suppliers are effectively locked out of the market, with registration delays sometimes exceeding six years. Animal health treatments are becoming inaccessible. Scientific innovation is stifled. “We are falling behind the rest of Africa, never mind the world,” warns Rossouw.
The result? A regulatory vacuum that puts the entire agricultural value chain – and with it the public’s access to safe, affordable food – in serious jeopardy.
Saai has instructed our attorneys to investigate the matter and to advise on potential litigation in the event of the state failing to address the matter decisively.
