Environment, Jan Serfontein meets the press to outline his vision
12 November 2007
MEC for Agriculture, Conservation and Environment in the North West
province, Jan Serfontein met the press as a collective for the first time in
Mafikeng today, exactly a month and a day since his appointment on 11 October
2007.
Serfontein assured journalists that he will maintain stability in the
department by not deviating from the legislature-approved policy statement and
strategic plan for the current period for his portfolio, however, he is asking
for a critical review of approaches to the mandate, in key areas such as
support to subsistence and small-scale farmers and sector financing.
Illustrating his point, Serfontein said "If you take the mealie farmers in
the central areas of the province such as Kraaipan, Mooifontein and Sheila, and
consider that their net annual takings on a plot of 30ha is about R9 000, you
have to ask yourselves if we are doing justice by encouraging them to keep
farming in this way. That scale of farming, with the current risks and scarcity
of water, is unsustainable. The solution is to move them towards profitable
cattle farming through feedlotting co-operatives."
"Fifty percent of the cattle in South Africa is in the hands of communities
and small black cattle farmers; however, they are not profiting from keeping
cattle because of the poor quality of their herds. These farmers should be
supported with animal husbandry skills so that their calving rates increase and
the quality of their beef becomes attractive to supermarket chains, then, we
can see an average farmer in a co-operative perhaps making a profit of up to
R60 000 per hundred head of cattle, in one year."
Serfontein told journalists that the direction of Agriculture in the
province needs to take a radical new direction. "The North West province is no
longer attractive for dry land crops because of climate change and water
scarcity. For those who want to continue with crops, we need to look around for
viable alternatives, such as large irrigation schemes, or alternatively,
diversify into ornamental plants and food crops under controlled conditions;
such as horticulture and hydro culture. It will not be easy to drive this
diversification purely on government funds as these are limited, therefore,
financial partnership with the private sector will need to be key to our
strategy going forward," he explained.
On the two world heritage sites development (Taung and Vredefort) which his
department is driving, Serfontein gave an assurance that the two main
outstanding issues, of appointing management authorities and approving draft
implementation management plans for the two sites, will be resolved soon. "I
will soon be meeting with my Free State counterpart to resolve the issue of who
will manage the cross-border site, Vredefort, and with regard Taung, also
decide whether my department or some other agency should manage it going
forward, clearing the way for the national Minister for Environmental Affairs
and Tourism to carry the process forward towards proclamation of the two sites
by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in
March next year."
Serfontein also announced that he will soon launch 16 women and youth owned
projects province-wide, to broaden access to these designated groups. He
promised to revive failed land restitution and redistribution projects by
restructuring the way in which they are managed by communities. Presenting
himself as a 'unifier', he explained that he will ensure that the sector does
not operate split along racial lines; committing to assist predator game
farmers to transition into the new threatened and protected species regulations
coming into effect on 1 February 2008, without too much difficulty and matching
emerging farmers with experienced commercial farmers and markets access
opportunities.
Enquiries:
Ms Lesego Mncwango
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 018 389 5768
Cell: 078 459 5981
E-mail: Lmncwango@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, North
West Provincial Government
12 November 2007
