It is an honour and pleasure for me to officially launch Agri Mega Week 2012 on this beautiful farm in the heart of the Cape Winelands. The large and broad representation from government, the private sector and other stakeholders within the sector underlines the importance of this event in the Agricultural Sector in South Africa.
We all know that the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sectors are of utmost importance and the backbone of socio - economic development in South Africa.
Just two days ago, Statistics South Africa recorded that the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industry had grown our gross domestic product by 3.5% and expanded by R18 billion to R31 billion for the second quarter of 2012. These are good news, not because they demonstrate our hard work, but because they demonstrate the potential in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
To reach our goals, we will have to work immensely hard to fulfil them.
Agri Mega Week plays a key role in the development of the Sector as it affords farmers, small Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies in agriculture and input suppliers an opportunity to showcase their products and interact with farming clientele within the country and abroad. The Expo allows farmers and other stakeholders to:
- Forge links with all key agriculture stakeholders in South Africa.
- Create an opportunity for the sale of agriculture-related materials at promotional rates
- Promote farmer interactions and farmer to farmer mentoring
- Allow visitors to explore the extent of agriculture technology, innovations and creativity relevant to their farming operations
- Showcase outcomes and outputs relative to the smallholder farmer, emerging farming sector and commercial farming sector
- Identify and explore possible partnerships in achieving developmental objectives
- Serve as a learning avenue for the youth about the farming sector and broaden career options in farming and agriculture.
Agriculture has shifted from being a social movement to having a place in the economic cluster of the GDP. Agriculture is today at the heart of many global issues including sustainable development. It is also the key to achieving food security and combating threats and worldwide crises like climate change.
There is broad consensus that investments in agriculture need to be increased substantially.
Investments are required to increase productivity in a more sustainable and resource-efficient way, but we also need investment in institutions that createe platforms like these to accelerate growth within our sector.
Events like this succeeds to bring people of different views and convictions together and whilst we all are in attendance we can as well utilise the opportunity to combine efforts and initiatives to take the industry forward.
I appreciate this year’s theme: One vision for one agriculture. I especially appreciate that the underlying intention is to unite all participants in the industry and to develop unity so we can move in tandem to create cohesive partnerships that will see our sector thrive.
The time has come for all South Africans to realise that we are only going to accelerate growth and alleviate poverty if the private sector and the government work in a coordinated fashion.
Programme Director,
I would like to use this opportunity to highlight the Masibambisane Rural Development initiative. Masibambisane is a practical vehicle to accellerate service delivery to the most remote areas in South Africa. The strength of this vehicle is that it carries many passengers inside. These passengers include government departments, the president of our country, private businesses and most importantly, the communities who are the actual drivers.
Masibambisane has the potential to truly change the lives of the impoverished in rural areas. In the Eastern Cape last month we recorded an attendance of 17 000 people from the Chris Hani District Municipality and surrounding areas. We visited silos, irrigation schemes and milling plants with the intention of asking government and private partners to contribute towards rebuilding dilapidated infrastructure so we could get production back again. We must revive dormant land and get our people planting their own food again. Food insecurity in rural areas is alarmingly high for a food secure country. We need practical steps to make sure that every single household has food for the family. We cannot ignore this plight.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries believes that Masibambisane will create a common understanding and a united force not only within the Department but more importantly amongst the public and private sector partners.
During 2011/12, the initiative ploughed approximately 4 000 hectares of communal land in two participating Local Municipalities, creating approximately 7 000 sustainable jobs across the different projects being rolled out within the programme.
I wish Agri Mega Group all success for this year’s Agri Mega Week. I thank everyone who attended this function and I congratulate Agri Mega for making this happen. I wish you all the success and I trust that you will succeed with the intention to create unity in the sector. I wish you all a prosperous and rewarding Agri Mega Week 2012.
Program Director,
In the light of the theme of this year’s Agri Mega week and the meaning of Masibambisane I would like to conclude by saying the following: ONE VISION ONE AGRICULTURE ……LETS ALL WORK TOGETHER!
Thank you.
