Agricultural development programmes are set for a major boost to enhance economic spin-offs through implementation of the proposed marketing strategies. This emerged at the Agricultural Marketing Forum meeting hosted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) together with the provincial Department’s Agricultural Development Support Services Directorate (ADSS) on 7 February 2011. Numerous draft strategy documents were tabled at the one-day forum meeting held at the Chapman Room, Cedara.
Three concept documents were presented to the forum, namely the Agro-Processing Strategy, Value Chain Networks and the Livestock Marketing Infrastructure audit, a pilot study done in the Free State Province. The documents contain intervention measures to be undertaken in the respective fields with the aim to elevate Departmental programmes and coordination within the sector. Input was solicited from agricultural economists from all nine provinces including national co-ordinators from Pretoria.
The forum threshed out issues like looking at the dynamics around access to funds, agro logistics, value chain networks, linking producers to markets, livestock marketing infrastructure audits and a cell phone based marketing information system. Issues linked to small holder development, poverty alleviation, creation of sustainable business initiatives, sourcing of vibrant markets for farmer commodities and creating a thriving agricultural sector were discussed and a number of strategies were presented.
Further consultations on strategies like the agro processing, are currently underway to incorporate input from other stakeholders like the private sector, agricultural agencies and other government departments to enrich the document but more importantly, to address critical shortfalls for implementation once the strategy has been approved.
Agricultural Economist Dr Simphiwe Ngqangweni from Agro-Processing at the national Department told the forum about plans to engage with the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Economic Development and the Agricultural Development Agency (ADA) on the strategy while in the province. ADSS manager Mr Sibusiso Shongwe welcomed such opportunity for the province to make a contribution to the strategy.
“On behalf of the MEC Dr Meshack Radebe and our HOD Dr Sizwe Mkhize, I wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity granted to the province of KwaZulu-Natal first to host this forum and secondly, to give our input on the Agro processing strategy. In KwaZulu-Natal, we fully comprehend how critical the strategy is to our operations in creating an enabling environment for productive farming. We really cherish being afforded an opportunity to enhance it” said Shongwe.
The forum’s overall objective is to make an input that will enhance agribusiness on various programmes and gauge the sector’s performance in the economy. The approach is to consider interventions that will give value for money for government, make good business sense for local economies and make an impact on improving the lot of our people more especially, the impoverished farmers.
Extensive market innovations are some of the initiatives that are suggested with regard to empowerment of small-holder farmers in order to achieve the impact highlighted above. The thinking is along the lines of the establishment of agribusiness information centres and giving attention to other logistics ranging from transportation, securing local markets for produces. There is also a strong emphasis on working towards producing quality products that will meet standards for local and international trade. This calls for improved agricultural extension services in order to improve product quality for our markets. The finalisation and successful implementation of these strategies will revitalise the emerging agricultural sector and promote rural development.
