of the provincial commemoration of World Food Day, at the Dikgatlong
Municipality, Barkley West
16 October 2006
Programme Director,
Honourable MECs Akharwaray, Selao and Joemat-Pettersson,
Mayor of Dikgatlong, Ms Martha Louw,
Councillors,
Representatives of the financial sector,
Representatives of community-based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs),
Officials of all three spheres of government,
Representatives of all food security projects women's groups,
Learners,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are gathered here today to remind ourselves of the critical milestone
that we have set for ourselves: eliminating hunger.
Today we are once more reminded of the plight of over 840 million people
worldwide that are said to be chronically hungry and under-nourished. In
commemorating World Food Day we should be probing the prevalence of
under-nourishment, malnutrition, and assessing the efforts undertaken.
South Africa as a partner to the International Alliance Against Hunger,
commemorates World Food Day, signalling our commitment towards accelerating the
momentum in the fight against poverty and food insecurity. We are commemorating
World Food Day, reminding one another of the need to mobilise resources, energy
and political commitment to eliminate poverty.
I wish to state that as a province we will continue to reinforce our core
mandate of reducing hunger by half, come the year 2015 as spelt out in the
Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs).
Programme Director,
Allow me to echo a widely acclaimed fact on the severity of hunger as a
socio-economic danger; it undermines health, education, productivity and
environmental sustainability. It is in this context that African heads of State
had vouched through the Maputo Declaration of 2003 to commit 10 percent of
national budgets to agriculture and rural development.
The theme for this year, "Investing in Agriculture For Food Security", as
adopted by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) serves
as a strident call to all of us to redouble our efforts in organising and
empowering those affected by hunger and food insecurity. Agricultural
development is indeed "the first step of a long term sustainable economic
growth".
The provincial government has to date crystallised its political commitment
to end hunger through the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme
(IFSNP) that can be given much impetus through Public Private Partnerships
(PPP). The poverty that we experience within our midst is the poverty of all
humanity; hence we cannot allow our efforts to stall. In dealing with hunger we
must continue to flag and reflect on our investment in food security.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A truly democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous South
Africa must be one that recognises our peri-urban and rural masses as full
citizens that also deserve to reap the benefits of the freedoms we all
enjoy.
In dealing with the scourge of unemployment and poverty we should bear in
mind that it is our womenfolk that stand out as the subsistence and household
food production base. Hence we should continue to prioritise on targeting rural
women for food security projects. They are indeed the bastions of our African
agricultural heritage and it is through them that we shall succeed in building
stable and safe rural communities.
Programme Director,
Allow me to flag how we have fared in addressing malnutrition and poverty
through the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP) that is
being championed by the Department of Agriculture and Land Reform.
1. The Department of Agriculture and Land Reform
* The key objective of the Department in the area of food security includes
among others increasing household food production and trade, improving income
generation and job creation opportunities and improving nutrition and food
safety.
* Over R11 million was allocated since the inception of IFSNP, which
includes R4 900 000 for this financial year catering for over 2 000
beneficiaries.
2. Department of Social Services
* Allocations made since the inception of the IFSNP, R30 595 600 with over
R10 000 000 having been allocated for this financial year.
* The targeted beneficiaries are women, orphans and vulnerable children,
youth, people with disabilities, people infected and affected by HIV and
AIDS.
* The Departments' scope of food security covers six community food gardens,
six drop in centres, 16 soup kitchens, four food and clothing banks and four
women co-operatives (agro-processing).
3. Department of Health
The Department's Integrated Nutrition Programme's contribution to food
security covers the following:
* Targets clients who attend health facilities and are found to be
malnourished or at risk of becoming malnourished, is operational at all the
primary health care facilities in the province.
* For this financial year R100 000 was allocated for nutrition education, R2
000 000 for food supplementation at primary health care facilities, R30 000
towards food gardens and R60 000 for Vitamin A supplementation.
4. Department of Education
The School Nutrition Programme provides employment to over a thousand women
who prepare meals for learners. It also supports the establishment of food
gardens in schools with 153 planned for the end of this financial year.
* food handlers � R6 054 000 00 (provincial equitable share)
* primary school feeding � R29 647 000,00 (conditional grant)
* secondary school feeding - R7 124 250,00 (provincial equitable share)
* food gardens at schools � R660 000,00.
In conclusion Programme Director,
Our food security voyage must be enhanced as an educational vehicle on
issues of nutrition because hungry people are more likely to catch infectious
diseases. Hunger among school going youth has also proven itself as a major
factor in school drop-outs. Hunger in learners' saps strength and dulls
intelligence. Of critical importance too is of course our investment in
agriculture, because we ought to preserve our ability to sustain our
agricultural production, which is the base of a healthy and prosperous nation.
Agriculture is the engine for the elimination of hunger.
It is for the above reasons that we targeted the food garden of the Kopanong
Small Farmers' Association as a project through which we wanted to demonstrate
our investment in food security.
I wish to inform the project beneficiaries that your tractor is here; the
Department of Agriculture and Land Reform is donating a tractor worth over R100
000 to you to assist you in your project chores.
And now to the broader Dikgatlong Community, having noted the food
insecurity status of the area, be informed that the Department of Social
Development is contributing food parcels to the tune of R100 000 to all Early
Childhood Centres and Frail Centres. Added to that is an amount of R20 000 from
the Department of Education also for food parcels for schools.
These deliverables are indeed an indication of the efforts we have
undertaken in strengthening direct access to food security. Let us not forget
that fighting poverty and ending poverty is a humane act, it is like working
for God.
I thank you!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
16 October 2006
