The South African government is seeking ways to revitalise the country’s rural railway networks in a bid to improve the agro-logistics industry by shifting cargo from the road back on to rail.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said, during her inaugural Budget Vote in Parliament, that her department would work with others to “complete this work in this term of government,” according to Engineering News Online.

Joemat-Pettersson said improved agrologistics had the potential to raise the efficiency of food movement whilst also lowering the cost of food processing.

“Furthermore, we will facilitate the establishment of agricultural marketing infrastructure for land and agrarian reform beneficiaries and improve the efficiency of agricultural logistics for all commodity value chains.

The cost of logistics in both South Africa and the wider African continent have long been cited as one of the main constraints to doing business, and with current high food prices cutting these costs is deemed essential for agro-logistics.

Parastatal Transnet is planning to spend around R80bn on developments to improve South Africa’s ports and rail infrastructure, as it seeks to capture more freight and logistics traffic that has moved to the road.