Supply and demand of agricultural graduates in the agriculture sector

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Supply and demand of agricultural graduates in
the agriculture sector
Education, Science and Skills Development
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This presentation

• Overview - output of agricultural education and
  training institutions
• Examination of the size of intermediate to high
  skills labour force
• Supply demand and absorbtion
• Key factors and themes affecting supply and
  demand
• Recommendations

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1. Institutional output

• Approximate total of 2550 graduates for one year
  2003

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2. Employment in Agriculture
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Employment by industry

• Salary of gtR2500 per month is proxy for
  intermediate to higher level skills
• Approximately 67 000 workers
• But subtract workers with non-agricultural skills

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Employment by occupation
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Employment by occupation
9.0
9.0
9.0

• Salary of gtR2500 per month is proxy for
  intermediate to higher level skills
• Approximately 29 000 workers
• But does not include other agriculture
  occupations eg professionals, scientists etc.

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Employment by field of study

• Salary of gtR2500 per month is proxy for
  intermediate to higher level skills
• Between 33 000 to 42 000 workers
• But some of these may not be working in the
  agricultural sector

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3. Contribution of output to cover demand

• LFS 2004 suggests that out of 308 000 Skilled
  agricultural and fishery workers there are 42
  000 with degrees diplomas and certificates
• We have 2550 FET to HET graduates entering the
  labour market
• The replacement rate that can be sustained for
  intermediate to high skills work in agriculture
  is
• Between 2 550/42 000 6.1

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Changing labour market conditions

• Long term decline in employment but share for
  agriculture rises from 12 to 13 (1995 to 2002)
  - this gives a 24.7 increase in real terms
  (Bhorat,2005)
• Rising skills composition of the agricultural
  labour force

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Labour market absorbtion
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Absorbtion of graduates

• 1.5 of agricultural graduates experienced of a
  period of unemployment but in proportion with
  total share of graduates in 2000 of 1.47
  (Moleke,2005)
• Agricultural graduates finding work
• 93 successful after 6 months
• 80 successful among Humanities, Arts and Law
  graduates
• Note Data for higher education only - not
  Colleges

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Key findings Demand signals

• Demand for skills rising with vertical and
  horizontal integration of product value chains
• Formalisation of industry organisations is
  evident with positive impact
• Professional (egSoil Science Society of SA)
• Producers (eg SA Avocado Growers Assoc)
• Service (eg Field Guides Association)
• Consumer bodies (eg SA Red Meat Industry
  Company)

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Key findings demand patterns

• Main demand for agriculture skills is in primary
  agriculture
• Skills required outside of the range of
  agricultural fields eg
• Management and financial
• Chemical engineering
• Chemistry
• Food Technology

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Key findings demand patterns

• Occupational categories of skills upgrading
  needs
• Growing interest among employers in RD
  activities
• Sales positions have rising requirements
• Farmers and Farm managers
• Specific skills sets (Sectoral) eg
• Animal feeds Feed Formulator
• Seed manufacture Seed Scientists
• Public Sector - veterinarians (inter alia)

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Key findings general issues

• Cross-cutting skills life-skills,
  communication, teamwork, IT etc.
• Perceptions of employers about graduates
• Concerns regarding image of agriculture

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Key findings supply-demand

• Factors creating localised demand
• Wage differentials (Public Private)
• Rural urban differentials in supply
• Intra-sectoral labour market demand imbalances
• Time-based nature of demand
• Geo-climatic influences

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Key findings supply-demand

• How demand is being met
• Substitution masks real demand
• Demand is partially met by short courses with
  focused high skills inputs
• Poor labour market information limits positive
  matches but see role of associations
• Demand is being met by adaptation (BAgric) in
  career paths
• Demand can be met by conversions (BSc)

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Recommendations

• Improve dissemination and use of information in
  private and public sector labour markets
• Dept of Agriculture website
• Annual HR/Training/HRD event
• Sustain quality and focus of agricultural study
  programmes
• Race and gender differentials
• Workplace skills in curriculum
• Agriculture as business
• Support for rural based institutions

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Recommendations

• Support stronger cooperation between training
  providers and employers
• Support for industry associations
• Facilitate higher-education industry interaction
  re niche training needs
• Foster intergovernmental collaboration
• The mission of Agricultural Colleges
• The curriculum focus of Agricultural High Schools

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Recommendations

• Strategically target scarce skills
• Target key occupations/programmes
• Consider RD skills
• Support courses of shorter duration than
  programmes
• AGRISETA
• FET Colleges
• Upskilling and in-service training as NB as
  pre-service education
• Research
• Needs analysis of targeted sectors to encourage
  employers to train

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• Thank You

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Equity parameters
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Challenges for understanding demand and supply

• Measuring Labour force growth (and decline)
• Monitoring education outputs

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Growth in education system
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Areas of specialisation
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Shift to formal work