delivered by Hon Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs Ms Lulu
Xingwana
5 June 2006
Her Excellency the South African High Commission, Dr Lindiwe Mabuza
Professor David Leaver Principal, Royal Agricultural College
Members of the South African High Commission present
Representative of government present (South Africa)
UK businesses, farmers and farmer organisations represented here tonight
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
A dual system of agriculture existed in South Africa before 1994. This dual
system, which by design was a product of the system of apartheid, represented a
prospering commercial agriculture consisting predominantly of large white
farmers and poor small-scale agriculture consisting mainly of black emerging
farmers.
The white commercial farmers, who had gained over a period of many years
from the apartheid Government didnât really need Government support and
services except in the areas of legislation, whereas the emerging black farmers
depended on Government for finance, land, infrastructure and delivery of
services. The majority of these black farmers were part of the homeland systems
which had been deprived of the necessary resources for viable agriculture.
These circumstances, coupled with disintegrated political landscape of the
country ensured skewed participation in agriculture. Other resultant problems
revolved around low investor confidence in agriculture, inadequate, ineffective
and inefficient support and delivery systems, poor and unsustainable management
of natural resource and constrained competitiveness and low profitability.
In 1994, the new political dispensation introduced a new socio-economic
framework contained in a document known as the Reconstruction Development
Programme (RDP). The RDP laid a foundation for a new system of the economy for
the new South Africa.
Based on the principles of the RDP, my Department came up with a new concept
for agriculture known as âBroadening Access to Agriculture Thrust (BATAT)â. The
concept of BATAT was the Governmentâs attempt to reconstruct agriculture around
five areas, viz. Financial Services, Information and Technology transfer,
Marketing, Human Resources Development and Delivery of Services. BATAT argued
that over many years, some sectors of the population were excluded from the
above services of agriculture. BATAT argued that it would therefore be
appropriate that access to agricultural services be broadened for these
groups.
The BATAT initiative contributed substantially to creating a sustainable
awareness of the need to transform agriculture, not only in terms of broadening
access for the previously excluded groups but in terms of moving it from a
white male dominated sector to a sector in which both men and women of all
races can participate equally.
In 2001, through the initiative of President Thabo Mbeki a new sector
Strategic Plan for agriculture was produced. The strategy was a result of a
joint effort between my Department, a predominantly white farmer union Agri SA,
the National African Farmersâ Union (NAFU) and the Agribusiness Chamber. The
adoption of this plan by the stakeholders in agriculture marked a watershed for
agriculture in South Africa. Contained in the Strategic Plan is the vision for
South African Agriculture, which is âA united and prosperous agricultural
sectorâ. This vision implies sustained profitable participation in the South
African agricultural economy by all stakeholders, recognising the need to
maintain and increase commercial production, to build international
competitiveness and to address the historical legacies and biases that resulted
in skewed access and representation.
Subsequent to the launch of this historic document, my Department introduced
a priority programme on land redistribution, restitution and tenure of land.
Agriculture focused mainly on a programme on Land Redistribution for
Agricultural Development commonly known as LRAD.
The LRAD programme, which is Governmentâs direct response to the thorny
question of access to land, provided emerging farmers with access to state
owned land and the leasing of land with an option to purchase. The programme
further aims at supporting emerging farmers in developing commercially viable
agricultural operations. This approach incorporated all the critical success
factors for commercial sustainability, from improved access to credit and land
to post-settlement support and drought assistance schemes.
In order to strengthen the post-settlement support of emerging farmers, my
Department launched in August 2004, a programme known as the Comprehensive
Agricultural Support Programme (CASP). Support available to emerging farmers
through CASP includes among others, information and knowledge management,
technical and advisory assistance, training and capacity building, market and
business development, on and off farm infrastructure services and regulatory
services. These services are delivered by the provincial departments of
agriculture, with my Department overseeing planning, funding and delivery
procedures and processes, as well as monitoring services delivery.
For 2004/05 alone a total of 45 245 farmers plus 21 017 households benefited
from the programme, equating to an investment of over R125 m. Notwithstanding,
fast-tracking the implementation of CASP was a major challenge in the Strategic
Plan of my Department in 2005, particularly in the promotion of agricultural
production among the emerging farmers. The strengthening of the training and
capacity building pillar of CASP is one of the strategies to address this
challenge.
In this regard, my Department has succeeded in recommending and providing a
comprehensive list of standards and criteria to be used in co-ordinating and
funding Sectoral training programmes that seek to capacitate these
beneficiaries of agrarian and land reform. These standards and norms further
clarify roles of the different role players in the provision of training in the
agricultural sector. Important to note is the fact that a minimum of 10% of the
CASP funding should be reserved for training. This ensures that all projects
implemented for the benefit of the emerging farmers are supported by way of
conducting skills assessments, designing training plans based on the skills
gaps identified and the provision of accredited aligned training. This
arrangement will undoubtedly be significant for the Fellowship Programme we are
launching today. The benefit is mainly on a conducive training environment
which these norms and standards provide.
It is worth noting also, Programme Director, that South Africaâs Skills
Development Act (Act 97 of 1998) ushered in a new and sound institutional
framework for the development of skills. It is through this act that the Sector
Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) were established.
AgriSETA, as an agriculture line function SETA, focusing on the training of
farmers and farm workers at the primary agriculture level is responsible for
the co-ordination and management of all training linked to levy-paying
agribusinesses. This important role player also contributes substantially to
ensuring that all training plans and reports of all levy-paying agribusinesses
are aligned to the strategic priority programmes of my Department such as the
Agricultural Broad based Black Economic Empowerment (AgriBEE), the Integrated
Food Security and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP), Natural Resource Management
including the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(AsgiSA).
Programme Director, let me now focus on what has brought us together today.
In launching the Royal Agricultural Colleges (RAC) Fellowship Programme we aim,
among others, at making strategic and sustainable contribution to South Africa
and indeed the whole of Africaâs development. The programme is a practical
response to the objectives of the New Partnership for Africaâs Development
(NEPAD), the 2005 G8 summit and the United Kingdom (UK) Governmentâs new
African Education initiative which stresses the interdependence of Africa and
the developed world.
Through the RAC Fellowship Programme, Africans who have some experience in
land reform, agriculture or natural resources management will be identified.
These will, as the programme states, spend twelve months in the United Kingdom
as Fellows. They will spend time on programmes designed to meet individual
needs and part of their time will be with the existing International Rural
Development programmes at the Royal Agricultural College. The remainder of the
time will be for independent research, industrial secondments and
networking.
The programme aims at awarding the first fellowships for the 2006-2007
academic year. The programme itself will be managed by the Royal Agricultural
College and be overseen by an Independent Trust and organisations represented
on the trust will include the Royal African Society (RAS) and the International
Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
For South Africa, the initiative is of great importance to the country and
its agricultural community. Just a few months ago, Programme Director, in July
2005 to be exact, a summit on Land and Agrarian Reform was held in Johannesburg
to review progress in enabling access to agricultural land in the past decade
and at the same time encourage dialogue among key partners and stakeholders on
the best way to accelerate access to land. Of importance to agriculture was the
call to improve on support services to newly settled farmers in order to create
a cadre of successful Black farmers, able to contribute to the broader goals of
job creation and poverty reduction.
The Royal Agriculture College Fellowship Programme therefore couldnât have
come at a better time. One could even dare say the programme should have come a
few years earlier.
I have already addressed you, Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, on
some of my Departmentâs priority programmes such as the Land Redistribution for
Agricultural Development (LRAD), the Comprehensive Agricultural Support
Programme (CASP), the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP)
and the Natural Resource Management (NRM). The strategic importance of the
Fellowship Programme as a support to these programmes cannot be
overemphasised.
The Fellowship Programme is relevant also to the two key deliverables of the
National Agricultural Education and Training Strategy which my Department
launched in September 2005. These two deliverables are that the Agricultural
Education and Training learning should be mobile and portable from one
agricultural education and training institution to another and secondly that
further studies at the level of Masters and Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) are
promoted among scientists and farm business managers in South Africa.
On the other hand, Programme Director, we strongly believe that for us to
implement successfully the identified AsgiSA projects in agriculture
namely:
* livestock development
* establishment of new irrigation schemes and the rehabilitation of existing
ones
* bio-fuels
* land rehabilitation
* development of agricultural corridors.
There is a strong need to provide assistance to emerging farmers and
emerging farmers organisations in the form of high-level skills development. We
believe therefore that the identified MSc International Rural Development would
capacitate the producers in South Africa with the requisite skills needed to
advance agricultural development issues both in the developed and developing
communities.
Having said all this, Programme Director, there will be a need to link the
management processes of the Royal Agricultural College Land and Food Fellowship
Programme to the already existing Departmental policy on Internal and External
International Study Opportunities Programme. Over the years through increased
international goodwill, my Department, guided by this policy, has been able to
access a host of study programmes offered at international level. But, of
course, the joint management framework of the Fellowship will need to be
finalised speedily so as to ensure that there is better co-ordination and
reporting on the outputs of the Fellowship Programme. Among others, the
following areas will need to be covered in the framework:
* issues of deadlines for submission of application and recruitment
process
* eligibility requirements i.e. criteria to be used for the identification of
suitable candidates
* the framework should outline clearly whether selected candidates are eligible
to accept other sponsorship
* the recruitment and selection structure i.e. who will be involved in the
recruitment and selection of candidates.
Considering that it is the aim of the Fellowship to make the first awards
for the 2006/07 academic year, there is an urgent need that the management
framework is finalised through collaborative engagements between my Department,
the RAC and other key stakeholders.
I conclude, Programme Director, by expressing heartfelt thanks to those who
have been the forerunners in the conceptualisation and ultimate manifestation
of this initiative, in particular, to Dr David Campell who was involved in
early negotiations with our Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka. I must hasten to
also thank the private sector in the United Kingdom, in anticipation, for the
generous sponsorship of the Fellowship. My thanks also go to the High
Commission for working tirelessly in ensuring that this programme becomes
realty and today I am able to launch it in the presence of a South African
delegation, the Agribusiness sector of UK and South Africa, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) working with farmers, etcetera. I am therefore taking this
opportunity to declare the Royal Agricultural College Fellowship Programme as
strategic vehicle to support human resources development within the South
African farming fraternity for now and to the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) in future.
I thank you all.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture
5 June 2006
Source: http://www.nda.agric.za
