Farm attacks cost the economy almost R2-million per annum, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Tuesday.

Using the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) figure for 2009 of R2,4-trillion, a 3,22% contribution of agriculture to GDP and an estimate of 39 982 farms (as at 2007) in South Africa, the cost of farm murders and attacks, to the economy, was R1 932 869 per annum.

"With concerns about food security already prevalent both in South Africa as well as globally, the high-rate of attacks on farms can only serve to exacerbate associated risks," Sacci said in a statement.

"This estimate assumes a permanent loss of the farming unit.

"Assuming that there is only a temporary loss of productivity of the farming unit, the loss to GDP is an estimated R161 072 per month."

Sacci said that this was a modest, conservative approach to the impact of farm attacks on economic output.

"It is by no means a comprehensive estimate of economic impact of the attacks on farms or the direct, indirect and opportunity costs of such farm attacks."

It said that its estimates did not factor in different types of farming (opting to use rather a standardised measure), the impact on domestic food security, the repercussions for the competitiveness of the South African agricultural sector, the impact on job security, and the opportunity cost of discouraged potential farmers.

"This calculation also assumes that all farming units contribute equally towards GDP and that the attack and/or murder always results in a productivity impact/down-time at the farm."

Sacci said that these costs impeded South Africa's currently modest recovery from the global economic crisis.

"They constitute a hidden, but significant negative impact on small and medium sized enterprises in particular, and add to the cost of doing business.

"Sacci believes that it is imperative that the causes of the attacks and murders are immediately addressed, not only on moral and legal grounds, but also in the national economic interest."

Sacci said that it would talk to the relevant authorities about developing strategies to curtail the alarming trend in farm attacks.