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Following the gazetting of the AgriBEE Sector Code on 28 December 2012, the AgriBEE Charter Council and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) developed the AgriBEE Portal Information System. The AgriBEE portal was specifically developed to capture Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) certificates and AgriBEE Sector Code scorecards to enable the AgriBEE Charter Council to report on the status of transformation in the agricultural sector.

Implementation of the AgriBEE Sector Code was effective from the date of publication and all sector stakeholders must now report their B-BBEE status, as required by the B-BBEE Amendment Act, 2013 (Act No. 53 of 2013). Section 6 of the Act reads that “(4) Enterprises operating in a sector in respect of which the Minister has issued a sector code of good practice in terms of section 9, must report annually on their compliance with broad-based black economic empowerment to the sector council that may have been established for that sector”.

All agricultural enterprises that fall within the scope of application of the AgriBEE Sector Code are therefore requested to upload their valid B-BBEE certificates and scorecards on the AgriBEE portal at http://webapps.daff.gov.za/agribee/. All exempted micro-enterprises (EME’s) are also required to upload an accountant/auditor’s letter of declaration onto the portal. Alternatively, agricultural entities can submit their valid AgriBEE certificates and scorecards and/or EME status accountant letters electronically to DAFF at AgriBEE@daff.gov.za.

In brief, the scope of application of the AgriBEE Sector Code includes any enterprise that derives the majority of its turnover from:

• The primary production of agricultural products.
• The provision of inputs and services to enterprises engaged in the production of agricultural products.
• The beneficiation of agricultural products, whether of a primary or semi-beneficiated form.
• The storage, distribution, and/or trading and allied activities related to non-beneficiated agricultural products.

The AgriBEE Charter Council sincerely appreciates the cooperation of all enterprises in submitting their scorecards.