The President AFASA Limpopo: Mr T. Mathidi
The Very Rev. Dr AE Rannditsheni from ELCSA, Devhula Circuit
Deputy Chairperson: Vhembe Livestock Association: Mr R. Magadani
Director of NAFCOBSA: (Farmers Bank): Ms T Lithole
Chairperson: NERPO Limpopo: Ms DR Magwede
Chair- Madzivhandila Agric College Advisory Board:
Chairperson: Vhembe Agricultural Forum : Mr M Nemutamba
HOD: Dept of Agriculture &Land Reform Limpopo: Ms J Masilela
Department of Rural Development and Land Reform : Ms M Nthai
Department of Water and Sanitation: Mr E Tshiololi
Secretary: Vhembe Livestock Farmers Associatio: Mr MT Ramuthaga
Deputy Chairperson: NERPO Vhembe : Mr FA Matshili
Farmers Chaplain : Pastor NG Kwinda
Distinguished guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and gentlemen
It is really an honour for me to have been invited to this prestigious occasion also known as Limpopo’s Farmers’ Family Day organised by Limpopo’s National Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (NERPO), Vhembe Livestock Farmers Association and the African farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA).
All these Associations confirm that eating is an Agricultural Act. What a befitting moment when our government has just launched the 16 days of Activism of no violence against Women and Children in this Province.
I give you my heartfelt congratulations for the gallant steps you have taken in venturing into the field that has for centuries been a sole confine of the white members of the South African society. You have set an example for the noble profession that determines the future of our nation.
You have shown that you do not shrink from challenges and criticisms. That is why today, as African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA) and NERPO, you are crossing over from emerging farmers to commercial entrepreneurs. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General puts it strongly when he said: “It is time to change the way we think. Farmers are not the cause of Africa’s poverty; they are a potential solution. They are key to creating the future envisioned by the SDGs.”
Emerging farmers in South Africa face many obstacles and it is not easy to cross over into the sphere of commercial agriculture. You were previously disadvantaged.
You were given land by Government through the land reform process. Some of you have operating knowledge of farming or may have even been previously working as employees on some farms, sometimes lacking the technical knowhow, farm and risk management skills and could not access to formal markets.
Agriculture does not only give riches to a nation, but pride of the only riches she can call her own. There is need to rekindle that class of Commercial Farmers destroyed by the Native Land Act in the Vhembe District Municipality. Time demands that we create a superior class of African people who are going to influence the Continent’s economy for some years to come.
Looking at your history, you battled against the odds. It was the challenges within the National African Farmers Union that led to the formation of the African Farmers Association of South Africa.
Today you are fortunate to be led by a caring Government that understands the challenges faced by black farmers.
The ANC led Government is under immense pressure to fulfil expectations and promises to make you enjoy the economic fruits of our political liberation. I know that you are not looking for hand-outs but would like to work hard so that you prove yourselves that you are capable and can compete with the best in the world.
One of your Officials, Aggrey Mahanjana, put it correctly when he said: “in our case as farmers, interventions, which are not aligned to production circles are pointless”. You have an obligation to play a prominent role contributing to food security in South Africa”.
You have now become the official National representative body of all smallholder farmers in South Africa. You have a mandate to work much harder to create an enabling environment within which to produce successful competent commercial farmers. If Africa’s evolving food system leaves its smallholder farmers behind, the continent will not reach its immense potential.
Programme Director,
During the 2013 State of the Nation address, President Jacob Zuma equally acknowledged that the economy continues to be confronted by skewed patterns of ownership of the means of production owing to inequality. I can assure you that your policy proposals in the Sector Transformation Master Plan is in good hands with the Government of the day.
We can say with confidence that your 2015 meeting with President Zuma, Ministers and Directors-General in the Agrarian Reform and the Economic Cluster wherein you presented your needs with a view to improve the implementation of Government policies and programmes have yielded positive results for most of the farmers , although a lot still has to be done .
The majority of African farmers in the country are smallholders who farm on less than two hectares of land. For many, the financial risks are high and the returns are low.
Our population statistics points to more than fifty million people in South Africa. We all depend on agricultural produce for livelihoods. It is therefore crucial that Government help farming communities to prosper and to have access to land and landownership.
Let us create the emergence of African success stories so that they become pillars on which emerging farmers can lean on. If not, emerging farmers will reach nowhere because their hands will be tied not by ropes but by the greed of the intermediaries that the system would have generated, who eats up the farmers income while it is on its way into their hands.
Understanding the roles and needs of women in agriculture is a prerequisite for the success of agricultural development programs. This is because women are major contributors to agriculture and play a primary role in ensuring the food security and nutritional status of their families.
Their level of participation and involvement both in terms of time and number of days they spend doing farm work exceed that of men. The battle for food security therefore can be won only if the invaluable contribution made by women is recognised, their potentials as farmers developed and are involved in the decision-making processes. AFASA should become a shining example in promoting and making women have equal access to technology and education.
Programme Director
The future of land reform in South Africa is subject to large tracts of available land within SA being handed over to emerging farmers. They will qualify to become commercial farmers by using agricultural practices with important factors of skills, technical knowhow and market price dynamics.
The future of emerging farmers has been recently highlighted in the National Development Plan and the APAP programs. This is to ensure that farming creates jobs, generates income and ensures that these farming activities are sustainable.
I know that Government support is limited to the first year of production via subsidies for inputs, mechanisation and fencing, thereafter the farmer is left on his/her own to fend for himself/herself.
Despite some rain that fell in many parts of Limpopo some past two weeks, farmers still fear the devastating effects of the current drought. Many farmers have described the drought as the worst in years and that its effects will be felt for a long time to come.
We are already experiencing poor harvests. Agricultural organisations are calling for drought relief as Government introduces water restrictions in favour of water storage for human consumption.
The farm Workers have also been affected, especially the seasonal ones, who might not be needed during planting and harvesting. The process of agricultural transformation in South Africa involves moving households from subsistence farming to producing for the market. For an area such as Limpopo with uneven economic development, agriculture has an important role to play in fostering rural development and poverty alleviation. We should have had factors exacerbating weak drought management at various levels such as early warning information.
Establishment of temporary water catchment points while planning for bigger dams or reservoirs. Some farmers in your midst are experiencing major high price input challenges such as fertilisers, seeds and herbicides compounded by transport and irrigation costs.
Some amongst you have had challenges related to the marketing of products in the formal market and some of you who have access to markets make it difficult for others to send their products by purposely increasing transport charges.
This creates a situation where some farmers cannot access formal markets. We still don’t co-operate with each other when it comes to irrigation.
Some areas still use cemented furrows which lead to water wastage through seepage, drainage and evaporation. Farmers with plots close to the dam are unreliable and untrustworthy. They take hours to give other farmers access to irrigation water with some receiving water after long periods of time and this creates irrigation politics in the area.
I appeal to you to level the farming playing field. Be united and realise that the industry is more important than the individual. Look after each other because if you are not your brother/sister’s keeper, then you are your brother/sister’s killer.
Programme Director, In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have to admit that there are challenges facing farming in South Africa. Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
So free yourselves from mediocre achievements. Rise to the top to can kiss the clouds. Our beloved former President Nelson Mandela says: “There is no passion in playing small in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”. The former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough”.
Allow me to leave you with these words by Carrie Chapman Catt: “To the wrongs that need resistance To the rights that need assistance To the future in the distance Give Yourselves”.
I thank you.
Aaaaaaaa!!!!!
