L Xingwana: World Food Day

16 October 2006

Mr Programme Director,
Isilo Ingonyama uhlanga lomhlabathi, King Goodwill Zwelithini Zulu,
Honorable Dr Sibusiso Ndebele,
Honorable Professor Gabriel Ndabandaba
Honourable Dr Zweli Mkhize,
Honourable Ms Peggy Nkonyeni
Ladies and gentlemen:

Today South Africa joins hands with more than 186 countries worldwide to
commemorate World Food Day. Today is symbolic in the sense that it was on this
day that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN)
was founded in 1945.

This year's theme "Investing in agriculture for food security", highlights
the vital role of agriculture in ensuring that all people have sustainable
access to sufficient food of a wide variety to lead active and healthy
lives.

Many wage-earning households in South Africa also engage in supplementary
subsistence production. Agriculture therefore plays a critical role in the
development of the rural and urban areas as well as in improving the
livelihoods of all South Africans.

As we speak, worldwide there are 852 million people who are food insecure.
Of this number 14 million are in South Africa.

This year's event is critical because 2006 marks the midway point of the
20-year period between the 1996 World Food Summit, when the world's leaders
pledged to halve the number of hungry people by 2015.

Ladies and gentlemen, owing to the World Food Summit plan of action the
South African Constitution which was enacted in the same year with the World
Food Summit recognised access to food and clean water as part of the basic
social right. Subsequently, the Millennium Declaration in 2000 and Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) one in particular gave further impetus to this
laudable effort which led to South African Cabinet adopting the Integrated Food
Security Strategy (IFSS) in 2002.

In light of the importance of food security in the nation's development and
the overall goal of improved welfare of the population, government places high
priority on several national and local policies and programmes which outline a
coherent ultimate goal to raise the nutritional levels of the population,
particularly the more vulnerable members of our society.

Some of these initiatives include projects such as:
* Ziyazondla in the Eastern Cape
* Siyavuna in KwaZulu-Natal
* Asibuyele Masimini in Mpumalanga and a number of other household food
production programmes across the country.

Because of the cross-cutting nature of food security, a number of other
programmes have been implemented through partnerships between government
Ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). To mention a few:
* Integrated Nutrition Programme (INP) led by the Ministry of Health
* Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) led by the Ministry of Public
Works
* Social Security Programmes led by the Ministry of Social Development
* National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) led by the Ministry of
Education.

These integrated food security and nutrition programme components are
designed to address food availability, accessibility and affordability.

In 2005, Cabinet approved the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA) under the leadership of the honourable Deputy President
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to ensure that growth is truly shared between the first
and second economies.

Through AsgiSA, a number of initiatives were embarked upon to address its
objectives and these include Project Gweb'indlala which focuses on food
security through infrastructure development, provision of key production
inputs, facilitating market access, job creation and poverty alleviation. As
part of the popularisation of AsgiSA among the population and making further
steps towards achieving the main objectives set by the MDG to reduce poverty
and food insecurity by half by the year 2015, the Department of Agriculture has
expanded the household food security programme to all nine provinces of the
country. This programme was first piloted in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape
and Limpopo.

Programme Director, the Department has also developed detailed business
plans for identified AsgiSA projects these include five key areas namely,
livestock development, establishment of new and rehabilitation of existing
irrigation schemes, biofuels, land rehabilitation and the development of
agricultural development corridors.

Owing to all these interventions in the second economy, prioritisation of
the role of women in agriculture is recognised as a viable option to direct
economic growth in rural areas. This is the more reason we have just launched
the Women in Agriculture and Rural Development programme in East London
yesterday.

The main objective of this initiative is to fight patriarchy and empower
women in the area of agriculture and land reform within the context of rural
development. Furthermore, it is our aim that it be a mass-based movement
focused on ensuring socio economic development of rural women. To some this
might sound over ambitious but I can assure you we are up to the challenge.

At present, government is implementing a series of challenging reforms
aiming at redressing the injustices from the past and at the same time ensuring
that the competitiveness of the sector is not lost.

It is about time we recognise the vast contribution of women in food
production. In this country, women provide about 60 percent of the agricultural
labour force.

Food insecurity is closely linked to poverty. It is thus essential that
strong information system links are established between food security and
poverty monitoring. Similarly, strong links should be established with Social
Sector Cluster member Ministries' information systems at all levels from local
to national. To this effect we have developed the Food Insecurity and
Vulnerability Information Management System (FIVIMS).

Ladies and gentlemen, according to the FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food
Situation Report, on the African continent alone there are 40 countries that
are facing food emergencies and require external assistance.

While conditions vary greatly across Africa, across Sub-Saharan Africa as a
whole about 33 percent of Africans are under-nourished, compared with 17
percent of people in developing countries as a whole.

The proportion rises to 55 percent in Central Africa.

The average number of food emergencies in Africa per year almost tripled
since the mid 1980s. South Africa with its limited resources is committed to
effectively contributing to alleviating the plight of the poor throughout
Africa. With our advanced research and production systems as they relate to new
cultivars that are resistant to diseases while being of high nutritious value,
we can contribute to food security. We have developed affordable grains,
vegetables and fruit that will allow poor families to have greater access to
nutritious and balanced diets.

In lieu of this I am indeed pleased to note such successful attempt as
highlighted in the orange-sweet potato project which both the Agricultural
Research Council (ARC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) undertook in
KwaZulu-Natal - Ndunakazi, Eastern Cape - Lusikisiki, Qunu, Mqanduli and other
areas in Limpopo.

Programme Director, as a country we should continue to improve several grain
and horticultural crops that have the advantage of being well-adapted to the
local climatic and soil conditions and produce yields even under extreme
climatic and soil conditions. In this regard indigenous plants are known to be
related to wild relatives and are important from the viewpoint of introducing
novel genetic material such as disease or pest resistance.

Horticultural crops are an important part of farming systems throughout
Africa. The introduction of plant diversity may offer solutions to synergistic
food combinations or preparation methods such as pro-vitamin absorption. Key
elements that the ARC should be addressing in their Integrated Food Security
and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP) launched here today should among others include
the development of sustainable solutions for micro-nutrient deficiencies which
lie in food-based approaches.

In this regard the ARC and the MRC have played a key role by publishing the
book which was presented to me a few minutes ago.

This will help build on the integration of nutritional, technological and
socio-economical approaches to improve micro-nutrient supply through enhanced
vegetable, fruit and staple food production.

Even though livestock is making an increasingly significant contribution to
food security and rural development, animal genetic diversity is also eroding.
Biodiversity in our oceans, lakes and rivers is being threatened by the
introduction of alien species and habitat destruction. Invasive alien species
are causing billions of rands of damage to South Africa's economy every year.
They are the single biggest threat to the country's biodiversity and the
productive use of land. In this regard the Working for Water programme is
spearheading this fight.

The impact that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can have
on sustainable development and in particular agriculture, has been highlighted
through the World Summit on the information society and other global platforms.
For this purpose the Department of Agriculture, the ARC and its partners
collaborate on numerous strategic programmes and interventions through
biodiversity research, agricultural engineering best practices, climate
monitoring and early warning device implementation so as to ensure that food
security is guaranteed.

Programme Director, climate change is another threat to food security. Its
consequences will have dire effects on the most vulnerable. It will drastically
increase poverty and hunger in Africa.

This is why our government will intensify initiatives to reduce emissions
and greenhouse gases and fund climate adaptation plans.

We will also step up our efforts to reduce land degradation which also
contributes to climate change.

Ladies and gentlemen, the fight against the scourge of hunger is a Herculean
task that government alone cannot hope to win. But together with academics,
researchers, non-government organisations (NGOs), traditional leaders, global
forums, environmentalists, farmers, the private sector, communities and other
stakeholders this problem is not an insurmountable one. We dare not fail
because if we do, mankind as we know it is doomed.

I thank you!

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