Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwiti
Gauteng MEC for Agriculture, Rural Development and Social Development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza
Sponsors who contributed towards the financing of the Expo
All Exhibitors and Farmers that will be honoured here tonight
All Government Managers present
Members of the Media present
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For a long time in our history the true toilers of the soil, the cultivators of the land and producers of food have always been women. This situation has been more pronounced in our country as a result of numerous oppressive and racial legislatives such as the 1913 Land Act, Influx Control and many others.
Owing to these laws women were left in the barren homelands and the rural areas to work the land in order to fend for their families while men were exploited in the cities and towns of our country. Women remained, even today, the bedrock of families. In the face of systemic onslaught against the traditional family structure by apartheid laws leading to disintegration of families women serve as the last pillar that hold the structure together. The resilience of our women has always been tested and found to be extraordinary.
It is therefore befitting we come together tonight at a time when we celebrate the power and greatness of women of South Africa. It is indeed an honour for me to address you in August, the month in which we pay homage and honour the gallant struggle of the women of 1956 who bravely marched in defiance of the abhorrent racial system of government espoused by the then apartheid regime.
Throughout our history, as I indicated, the role of women in society can never be under estimated or underplayed as women are the bedrock upon which the family is built. Women are not only nurturers, but in many instance the providers of their families. It is therefore disheartening and saddening that as we celebrate women and their contribution, many women still face tremendous hardships both economically and socially, where women are being abused, raped and even killed.
Recently, the country has been in a state of shock as the result of callous act of criminality and cowardice directed to our elderly women who are violated by young men in our midst. The perpetrators of such evil cannot be allowed to roam our streets freely because women will always be prey to such predators. We therefore urge all citizens to stand up against all forms of abuse against women and children and ensure that perpetrators of such atrocities are brought to book.
Tonight, we gather here at the Nasrec Expo Centre for the 2ndAfrican Farmers Expo and Workshop. I am aware that this initiative combined with an inaugural workshop, took place last year under the name of the `Black Farmers Expo and Workshop’ at the Tshwane Show grounds and the feedback and reviews I have received indicated that it was a resounding success. I am encouraged in particular to note that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has executed the critical function of reviving agricultural expos, an important mandate in our Provincial program of action.
We, therefore, should applaud the MEC and leadership of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as Government we are cognizant of the fact that the Agricultural Sector is a critical economic sector responsible for our food security.
Let me also take this moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the sponsors of this Agricultural Expo. Our Government firmly believes that together we can indeed do more through private and public partnerships, where collectively we join hands in addressing the challenges facing our country. It is therefore pleasing to say that this Agri-Expo is in itself a clear demonstration and testament to how when we join hands together as Government and the private sector, we can, in this instance, address some of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers, while ensuring that our country becomes food secure.
By forging this partnership and having the expo, we are able to address challenges our farmers face that include access to information about suppliers of various agricultural inputs, suppliers of mechanisation (Tractors) and related equipment and all agricultural types of infrastructure necessary for a successful farming operation. Of outmost significance, this Agri-Expo platform creates interaction with potential buyers of the produce of smallholder farmers, a critical element in their productivity and profitability of their enterprises.
Our mandate of agricultural development in a province such as Gauteng is very much relevant today and in the future in view of the ever increasing food security pressures that our country faces. It is partly because of this challenge that Gauteng continues to be the centre of in-migration such that today we have become the province with the largest population of 11.3million out of 50million South Africans. In the same context, we cannot fold our arms and hope for miracles. We therefore remain vigilant in implementing our programmes and initiatives of ensuring household food security, productive and sustainable farmers which are being capacitated to be able to undertake agro-processing of their produce and create jobs through the revised Gauteng Agricultural Development Strategy (GADS) linked to the Gauteng Employment, Growth and Development Strategy (GEDGS). These strategies remain significant part of our Programme of Action underpinned by the 8 outcomes that we have adopted as a province.
Honourable Minister, MEC, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to highlight in particular Outcome 7 that is about ensuring Vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities contributing towards food security for all.
We fully note that successful economic growth encompassing agriculture is centered on ensuring the interaction of various programmes and projects which work together in combination to achieve the outcome I have just mentioned. Training and mentoring of smallholder farmers to be more productive and participate meaningfully in the agriculture value chain is a fundamental aspect of our work and this agri-expo provides additional platform through the workshops that have been organised for farmers to interact with potential service and input providers as well as mentors in this regard.
Program Director,
We have often heard of different statistics and percentages of farmers who are not succeeding, it is also said that most of these farmers are beneficiaries of various programs which include land reform. Tonight as we are honoring farmers who have excelled in their various enterprises in the categories of poultry, dairy, livestock, grains and fresh produce; let this be a reminder that there is excellence out there that sometimes goes unnoticed. It is all our responsibility to ensure that such a trend does not continue.
We have changed gears; we have changed our course to ensure that this excellence does not go unnoticed forever. It is furthermore our aim to ensure that success must continue to breed more success. Therefore this recognition must serve to provide further impetus and momentum to our smallholder farmers to continue striving to perform optimally in accordance with the capacity of their farms. In addition, in the coming week, in accordance with August month that I have already alluded to, we will furthermore be honouring female farmers through our Annual Agri-business Women of the Year competition.
We firmly believe that this excellence is not in isolation, but it is a manifestation of increased support that we have provided as government in addition to efforts of mitigating systemic efforts that have sought to undermine development of all farmers in particular smallholder farmers.
We are encouraged as we have witnessed the competition commission dealing successfully with some of these incidences of fixing agricultural inputs. I implore upon our exhibitors and all agricultural input suppliers to be good examples in ensuring that fair and ethical business practices in particular with regard to pricing becomes the norm.
Program Director,
As I conclude I wish to congratulate winners of this year's Gauteng African Farmers Agri-Expo Excellence in farming awards. I also wish to thank in earnest all exhibitors who are making this initiative a success. It will be a malicious omission if I do not congratulate the MEC and staff of GDARD for once more delivering a successful Agri-Expo a part of our long term goal of reviving and building sustainable agricultural expos in Gauteng.
We are proud of all of you who work our land for the survival of all that depends on it, be it humans, animals and flora.
Dankie.Ngiyabonga
