Crime survey shows astronomical losses for Free State and SA Agriculture

A Free State farmer could have suffered an average financial loss of about R454 763 in 2017 due to crime committed on his or her property. That is if he or she became the target of all forms of crime, as indicated in Agri SA’s 2018 National Agricultural Sector Crime Survey conducted by the Bureau of Market Research at UNISA.

According to the survey, commercial farmers in the Free State suffered total losses (direct costs) of R610 902 667 in 2017. In addition, 71.15% of all commercial farmers in the province were victims of crime and 79 356 crime-related incidents occurred on their farms. In addition, these Free State farmers claim that crimes on their land increased by 33.02%.

All this and many more statistics in the survey show that the impact and extent of crime on the commercial agricultural sector, not only in the Free State, is astronomical.

National economic losses

The survey shows that total economic output loss for the South African economy amounted to approximately R18,92 billion a year in 2017.

Losses in the commercial agricultural sector in job creation were are also great. It is estimated that around 13 635 job opportunities were not created due to the impact and extent of agricultural crime in the country. In addition, further losses in employee compensation can also be estimated at around R16,1 billion in the South African economy.

With regards to the Free State, 5 454 jobs were lost due to agricultural crime.

Stock theft big problem in FS

The property-related crime that affects most commercial farmers in the Free State is stock theft. There were a total of 26 175 stock theft incidents in 2017, followed by theft of farm infrastructure with 14 154 incidents, which reflects between 20,6% and 22,5% of the national crime rates.

With reference to serious and violent crimes, 22.52% of respondents in the province indicated that they were victims of robbery, 3,87% were assaulted, 0.43% raped and 0.30% became victims of culpable homicide.

Comparison with SAPS figures a concern

What is worrying, however, is when the South African Police Service (SAPS)’s annual released crime statistics for the Free State are compared with Agri SA’s 2018 National Agricultural Sector Crime Survey for the province:

• Arson incidents have an under-reporting figure in the province of between 1 253% to 1 421%.
• Malicious damage to property on commercial agricultural land constitute between 89.26% and 97.85% of all reported crime incidents when put into perspective by Agri SA 2018 National Agricultural Sector Crime Survey.
• All theft (general theft) has a huge under reporting figure of between 178% and 205% of all thefts reporting to SAPS in a years’ time, that it is definitely higher because not all reporting crimes to SAPS have derived from commercial farmers.
• Livestock theft (stock theft) has also a huge under reporting figure in the Free State between 662% and 726% and almost equals the national crime statistics for this property related crime.
• Other crimes such as illegal grazing and hunting on commercial farms are not reflected in the national crime statistics release and the impact and extent of this type of crime cannot be determined, but it can be assessed that it is huge.

Reporting poor because of this

The non-reporting rate among commercial farmers in the Free State can be between 25.5% and 69.4% on all forms of crime.

The main reason for non-reporting is that commercial farmers believe it is a waste of time (40.50%), that the police cannot do anything (19.10%) and that they have had a bad experience with the police and/or the criminal justice system (10.70%).

In the Free State, 54.78% of these farmers belong to an active farm watch structure, but only 22.60% participate in local priority committee meetings on the Rural Safety Strategy (RSS). Only 55.2% of commercial farmers mark their livestock and maintain a stock register. Only 15.3% attend VIS meetings in the province.

FS feeds the nation

With regards to crimes on commercial agriculture in the Free State, approximately 7 265 farmers (it can be even less) provide food to a population of over 2.75 million.

Nearly 60% of the Free State population lives in rural areas (DAFF). The Free State produces about 70% of the country’s grain and is considered the bread basket of the country. In terms of maize, the Free State produces 40%, sorghum 37%, soybean 34%, wheat 18%, groundnuts 35%, sunflowers 56%, milk 22.4% wool 23%, cherries 90%, red meat 14.6% of country’s basic food commodities.

This means that the Free State supplies of the 10 food commodities approximately 40% (37%) of the country’s food, thus providing a population of about 22 million people with food (estimated on a population of 55 million). It also means that every farmer in the Free State is responsible for feeding nearly 3 028 people.

Reporting of crime must improve

The sustainability of especially the commercial agricultural sector in the Free State is therefore of paramount importance to food security in the country.

The RSS can only be implemented and improved in all its facets if the impact and extent of all crimes are determined. Therefore if there is an improvement in reporting figures (reported crimes) at the SAPS by farmers in crime statistics. Then only pressure can be placed on the SAPS, government and departments to limit and combat all forms of crime, serious violence and property-related crimes.

It is proposed that such a survey should be expanded to the subsistence and emerging agricultural sector in order to also determine their losses in terms of crime.

Click here to see tables comparing farm attacks in the Free State with the national figures.