M Mayisela: Third national LandCare Conference

19 September 2006

"Age of hope, a national effort in reflecting on LandCare progress and
strengthening the future"

Chairperson
Mr Thabang Makwetla, Premier of the Mpumalanga
Mr Madala Masuku, MEC for Agriculture and Land Administration
Other distinguished guests
Our East African guests
Ladies and gentleman

I thank you for the opportunity given to address this, the Third National
LandCare Conference as a messenger of LandCare. It is fitting that the theme of
this year's Conference is “Age of hope - a national effort in reflecting on the
LandCare progress and strengthening the future”.

This is so because since 1997 National Government has been working together
with provinces to strengthen the implementation of the LandCare Programme. This
is an opportunity to tell our success stories of good LandCare practices
implemented by our communities and LandCare groups within South Africa. We need
to assess where we are with LandCare in South Africa and test whether we have
laid a firm foundation on which we can build for the coming years.

We also need to asses whether we have the knowledge and capacity to
successfully overcome the present and future challenges. For South Africa the
launching of the LandCare programme in 1997 was propitious due to political and
government system changes after the apartheid regime. The supreme challenge was
to introduce fundamental changes needed in the political, administrative and
delivery systems governing the sector in order to conform to the new democratic
constitution of South Africa. These changes meant that first and foremost we
had to place at the centre of the agricultural sector and rural development,
focus on the black majority as primary participants in addressing their own
needs.

In addition, it has been necessary to work together with a number of key
stakeholders to realise our 1994-stated vision of equitable access and
participation in a globally competitive sector that contributes to community
development, income generation, employment creation, food security and a better
life for all in a sustainable manner. LandCare, I believe, has been one of the
programmes that have served as a vehicle to realise this vision.

In 1999, following our second democratic elections, government assessed the
implementation of agricultural policies. It has realised that economic growth,
employment, equity and development challenges cannot be addressed only through
state intervention or action, but that partnership with civil society is
necessary for a facilitated agreement, common vision and joint responsibility
for the future.

On establishing a Presidential Working Group on Agriculture, President Thabo
Mbeki challenged all key-role players within the sector to identify a common
vision and strategy that would unite the sector. In response to this challenge,
the Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the National African
Farmers' Union (NAFU) and Agri SA forged a partnership across the entire
agricultural value chain and produced the Strategic Plan for South African
Agriculture in November 2001. The strategy articulates the long-term vision for
the sector, which is to create “A united and prosperous agricultural
sector”.

Under this agreement, government and its partners have taken joint
responsibility for working towards actions that will tackle the sector's
present and future challenges. Today, therefore, we have a common vision for
agriculture in South Africa. This vision includes one where the sector uses and
manages the natural resources available for production in a sustainable
manner.

We have set ourselves the following strategic goal for the sector plan “To
generate equitable access and participation in a globally competitive,
profitable and sustainable agricultural sector contributing to a better life
for all”. In pursuing this goal a number of outcomes should be achieved which
are consistent with the outcomes of the LandCare programme, Expanded Public
Works Programme (EPWP) and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA) being implemented currently.

Such outcomes are the following:
• increased creation of wealth in agriculture and rural areas
• increased sustainable employment
• increased incomes
• reduced poverty and inequalities in land and enterprise ownership
• improved farming efficiency
• improved national and household food security
• stable and safe rural communities and
• pride and dignity in agriculture as an occupation and sector.

Sustainable resource management remains one of the core strategies of the
Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture. We need to enhance the capacity
of our farmers to use the natural agricultural resources in a sustainable
manner and to ensure that these resources are used wisely and managed
correctly. We all know that farmer participation is the key to the success of
this strategy. Innovative approaches that link natural resource management to
support programmes could provide a win-win situation resulting in short-term
economic benefits for the farmers but at the same time contributing to the
longer-term objective of maintaining the natural resource base.

Further degradation of our soil and water resources poses a threat to the
productive base of the country. To address this we need to have strategies in
place that are designed to overcome the causes of degradation. We also need to
invest in infrastructure and services that support sustainable land use.

Principles of sustainable management of the natural resources need to be
built into production systems that are integrated and environmentally friendly.
At this Conference you will be able to access information and literature about
the LandCare programme in the country. In these documents you will find that
the applicable principles of the Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture
are embedded in the strategy of the National LandCare Programme.

You will also note in our LandCare literature that mention is made of the
LandCare approach. These basic principles form the foundation to the way the
programme should be operating within our farming and rural communities.
The principles are as follows:
Community-based natural resource management:
Groups of people talking about mutual problems and coming up with
solutions.

Partnerships:
Building partnerships among the public, community and private sectors.

Local action:
People are encouraged to take local action, promoting local economic
development.

Food security:
* Socio-economic benefits add value to LandCare.
*
Integrated and innovative approaches:
The causes of environmental and resource degradation are addressed rather than
the symptoms.

Redress:
LandCare assists resource-poor communities from rural areas and addresses the
needs of formerly disadvantaged groups.

Training and skills development:
In implementing projects, opportunities are sought to give informal and
accredited training to community individuals and to provide them with skills to
seek permanent job or entrepreneurial opportunities.

Promoting livelihoods and economic opportunities:
LandCare adds value to the resource base and improved management of the
resources should lead to improved economic opportunities for community
members.

The beginning of 2004 saw the introduction of the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) and its implementation of which LandCare is part. This
programme is a nationwide effort which seeks to draw significant numbers of the
unemployed into the productive sector of the economy to afford them an
opportunity of gaining skills while they work and thereby improving their
capacity to earn an income.

The programme is divided into four sectors, being Environment and Culture;
Social; Economic and lastly Infrastructure, under which a number of government
departments are found with one department to lead each sector. The Department
of Agriculture is part of the Environment and Cultural Sector, which is lead by
the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. This sector has four
government departments, the other two being Water Affairs and Forestry, and
Arts and Culture.

All four of these Departments in the Environmental Sector have been involved
in recent years, to a greater or lesser extent, in programmes that support the
aims of the EPWP. LandCare is one of these programmes, and other well-known
programmes are, for example, Working for Water and Working for Wetlands. These
programmes collectively support the creation of land-based livelihoods and
community-based natural resource management.

This sector therefore has a powerful combination in terms of building South
Africa's natural and cultural heritage and in utilising this heritage to create
both immediate and long-term jobs and social benefits. This also implies
particular ways of working with communities, building on their historical
custodianship of these resources and locating projects within a broader
sustainable development strategy.

The objectives of the programmes within this sector are to achieve the
immediate social benefits of the overall EPWP; while at the same time it will
be generating useful outputs in the fields of environment, heritage,
biodiversity and LandCare.

These objectives fit within the broader objectives of government such as
poverty reduction, transformation, empowerment, urban and rural development,
growth and job creation.

In keeping with the theme of the Conference, “Age of hope - a national
effort in reflecting on LandCare progress and strengthening the future” allow
me to give some funding statistics. Poverty relief funding of the LandCare
programme due to improved institutional arrangement has resulted in a continued
increase in financial support. This has increased per year from R25 million in
1998 to R68 million for this year. The number of projects for this period has
been 469 starting with 14 in 1998.

I acknowledge the presence of the East Africa delegates in our audience this
morning. Together with the South African team they will play an important part
in developing the African LandCare Network to ensure that this concept of
creating livelihoods with the agricultural natural resources continues to
receive attention of all the delegates at this Conference I trust you have a
fruitful three days and that much is learnt that will carry LandCare forward
and make it a champion for the realising both the objectives of government and
of the agricultural sector.

Today will be celebration of LandCare. Tomorrow there will be field visits
where much can be learnt as you come into direct contact with our LandCare
communities. Thursday will involve sharing your experiences and vision for the
future. We all have the opportunity over these coming days to make a great
contribution to LandCare, so let us use it.

I trust you will enjoy your stay in South Africa and that this Conference be
one of your highlights for the year.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
19 September 2006
Source: Department of Agriculture (http://www.nda.agric.za)