Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature
Honourable Premier of the North West province, Mme Maureen Modiselle
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture
Conservation, Environment and Rural Development
Leaders of Political Parties in the province
Representatives of all Agricultural and Environmental structures
Dikgosi tse di na nang le rona mo kokoanotheo molao
Government officials
Colleagues and comrades
Ladies and gentlemen
Honourable Speaker, our country is this year celebrating the 55th anniversary since the adoption of the Freedom Charter, which has become a unanimous programme preserving the hopes and aspirations of all the progressive people of South Africa.
There is today no doubt Honourable Speaker that despite the enshrining ambitions declared in the Charter, our society is still grappling with life challenges like the effects of poverty and underdevelopment. Having joined the world’s long list of economies in recession over the last two years, it was indeed encouraging to learn from the South African Reserve Bank Governor Ms Gill Marcus that, economic indicators were early this year showing that South Africa was coming of recession reasonably and rapidly.
It is however true Honourable Speaker that, at the time of this announcement, the global economic down turn had undoubtedly brought untold hardship to humanity. This economic crunch has led, for example, to price hikes in food worldwide. We are all living witnesses to this precarious situation in our country.
This state of affairs, Honourable Speaker, puts a greater responsibility on us as a department, since we are spearheading the national call for ensuring food security. Furthermore, food production depends largely on our rural dwellers which again brings to the fore another national priority deliverable, namely rural development.
It therefore becomes compelling that my department devises very ingenious ways of bettering the lives of our rural people, and also stepping up food production so as to curb the escalating food prices.
Honourable Speaker, arising from the discussions during the United Nations Climate Change summit held in Copenhagen five months ago, it is clear that the developing world faces greater challenges than the developed world, both in terms of the impacts of climate change and the capacity to respond to this worldwide challenge. Our country is also beginning to witness and feel the effects of climate change, which is possibly the greatest environmental challenge facing the world this century.
Honourable Speaker, when the country is excitedly counting the number of days left before welcoming the world and celebrating the occasion to happen for the first time on the African soil, the Agriculture sector is still reeling in economic losses due to the recent outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in the country. Even though government is vigorously applying measures to contain this disease, farmers are continuing to experience livestock losses as this disease is also precipitated by increased rainfall, a condition that might be the effect of climate change. I will later on in my speech, Honourable Speaker, articulate further on this subject. It is also true, Honourable Speaker, that even with some of these challenging realities, there are positive reports that continue to be recorded in this province and that is what will largely inform the content of the budget vote presentation that I stand before this august house to deliver.
In pursuit of the Freedom Charter vision which declares that the people shall share in the wealth of our country, I would like to deliver achievements and policy priorities in economic and social development within the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development sectors.
Review of 2009/10
Honourable Speaker we have acknowledged in the past years that we needed to turn our practice around with bold targets and carefully crafted initiatives for effective execution. I therefore wish to highlight just a few of our success stories and the challenges we encountered along the way:
Building organisational capacity and championing good governance
Programme 1: Administration
i. Budget: R149,336 million
Honourable members, our democratic government has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that its human resources are developed to the fullest. It is in this context that we also concur that in order to strengthen the skills and human resource base of the country, education, training and development opportunities must be provided.
Driven by our quest for improved service delivery, we have undertaken to intensify our human resource development programmes to address identified limitations in our support services to farmers. In respect of the above, we managed to roll out the Extension and Recovery Plan as guided by the national norms and standard for the extension and advisory services profession.
To date, 40 extension officers have registered with the North West University, Mafikeng Campus, to up-grade their skills. Appropriate tools and technology have also been provided to the agricultural advisors to enable them respond to farmers’ requests accurately. To improve visibility and accountability of these officers, the department has introduced the Green Book which is signed by farmers to confirm that indeed they are visited by agricultural advisors, and that they are properly advised on applicable farming methods. In implementing this methodology, we managed to record a total 17 601 visits to farmers, during which advisory service was rendered.
We have, Honourable Speaker, as a collective, committed ourselves to strive for continuous improvement in this field for improved services to the farming community. Working together with all our agricultural partners, we can, and we will achieve this goal.
In our endeavour to reach the national goal of building an effective and caring public service, we have since 2007 registered 295 employees for Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) lessons from level one to four. Due to the high level of attendance and pass rate, we have this year introduced ABET level five which is equivalent to grade 12.
Equally, we managed to train 204 employees on generic training skills such as Strategic Management, Mentoring and Evaluation, Policy Development and others.
Following the same approach, a total of 30 unemployed graduates and 28 student interns were exposed to work environment in various career fields through our internship programme.
Honourable Speaker, this month marks the twelfth month since the establishment of a Risk Management Directorate within the department, and signals are that compliance to financial regulations and general good governance has improved. Accordingly, we have from January this year, appointed a Risk Management Committee comprising different unit managers, who will promote the objectives of the risk management strategy. This committee will provide strategic direction and guide the Accounting Officer on issues of risk management within the department and serve as risk, ethics and fraud champions.
To enable this unit to advance its role towards improving the internal control environment within our department, we will carefully address the resource capacity challenges experienced by the unit to ensure that its reason for existence is realised.
Honourable Speaker, last year we undertook to fast track the process of advertising and filling of posts for people with disabilities. The report I have for you today is that those posts were advertised and interviews were conducted; but appointment was delayed due to budget limitations.
Similarly, the department was unable to implement the Occupational
Specific Dispensation (OSD) and job evaluation process for nationally coordinated posts, resulting in court orders being issued against the department, ordering us to implement the national standards as approved.
While exploring appropriate means of honouring the court order, we decided to delay the filling of certain posts until the beginning of the current financial year.
This decision was cautiously applied Honourable Speaker, as we ensured that no section became vulnerable to poor performance and without compromising the business of the entire department. We have since the beginning of this financial year, sought possible measures targeted at ensuring full implementation of OSD and job evaluation process for nationally coordinated posts, and this exercise should be concluded by the end of the second quarter.
It is also important for Honourable members to note that, the implementation of the internal Job Evaluation process was affected by the introduction of the unfunded mandate of Rural Development which needed to be incorporated into the Departmental structure. Efforts have been made
Honourable Speaker, to align the structure with the departmental mandate and the revised structure has been adopted. Taking into consideration the same challenge of budget limitations, we will vigilantly give the internal job evaluation process the necessary attention and ensure that the most suitable solution is found.
Providing sustainable agricultural systems for the farming community
Programme 2.1: Agricultural support services
i) Budget: R59,656 million
Honourable members, to respond to challenges on the discrete Agricultural Development Plans for the department and municipalities, we have a week ago officially launched the much lauded Agriculture Master Plan for the North West province. It is through this plan, Honourable Speaker, that the province will be able to provide a decision support system to enhance planning and optimal use of limited or scarce resources. We have so far in partnership with Agricultural Research Council, trained 119 users on the use of this plan. We congratulate all stakeholders who contributed towards the development of this plan, and believe that they will also direct their energies towards full implementation of the plan.
Honourable Speaker, in our concerted effort to enhance our relations with neighbouring countries on Agricultural trade, initiatives and market related processes, we have started trans-boundary bilateral trade with Botswana on the possible export of milk, from our province to that country. We have for that reason, supported the North West African Business Chamber of Commerce in spearheading technical and political plenary through cross border meetings, farm visits and information days with the hope of establishing areas of mutual cooperation with the existing bilateral trade memorandum of agreement.
We will this year put into practice President Jacob Zuma’s call for action, and finalise the process in consultation with all stakeholders and role players involved. We will soon craft an action plan for cross border trade between North West and Botswana for effective implementation.
Honourable members, we have been critically monitoring the performance of our Agricultural Economics Directorate on business plans development, and we are happy to pronounce that this directorate’s capacity has drastically improved. A significant progress has been attained for projects funded under Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme and Settlement Support funding. For the financial year 2009/10 a total number of 116 business plans was developed with the inclusion of a detailed marketing plan.
Driven by our optimism to ensure sustainability of projects through building capacity for beneficiaries, we will strengthen our recourse to empower project beneficiaries, members of cooperatives and land reform projects with the requisite skills in production, record keeping, and conflict management. We will in collaboration with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, further implement the commodity based mentorship programme for beneficiaries of land reform.
Honourable Speaker, the recent outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in our province has sparked alarm in view of the excessive rainfall patterns experienced in the past few months. We are aware of the impact of such changes on the ecological state of our environment. As we face the historical moment of hosting the FIFA Soccer World Cup in the next twenty three days, we wish to assure visiting soccer fans that they are not in danger of contracting Rift Valley Fever.
We have to this point, engaged on a massive awareness within the sector on the possible animal health and public health risks. We have also embarked on vaccination campaigns during which more than 7 600 livestock in high risk areas of both Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati districts were vaccinated against this disease. We are continuing to provide technical support and prompt reporting of all new cases.
The need for stable bio-security has also emerged as a constant challenge for us as a department. To that effect, vigorous monitoring for compliance of abattoirs for safe, wholesome meat and the promotion of meat safety standards will be paramount. We will further intensify the fight against illegal slaughtering of livestock and sustain our abattoirs rating programme in terms of their hygiene standards for reward.
Honourable Speaker, our Potchefstroom Veterinary Diagnostic laboratory has just been declared competent to perform tests for controlled animal diseases, making the North West province the first in the country to get this authority. This, in simple terms, Honourable members, means the
Potchefstroom Veterinary Laboratory is the only laboratory that has so far implemented the quality control procedures that are critical for an internationally recognised laboratory. Test results for animal diseases that will be produced from the laboratory, will from now on, be accepted nationally and internationally.
As our final leg to this achievement, we will during the course of the financial year, subject the Provincial Veterinary Laboratory to a final assessment for accreditation within the 100 days into the financial year.
As such, the South African National Accreditation System will render the laboratory capable and competitive to serve the poultry, dairy and cattle farming community. An epidemiology unit has also been created to focus on surveillance of diseases that are potential economic and public health hazard.
On the same note, with the constant threats of animal disease outbreaks, we will pay specific attention to vaccination programmes to support our anchor livestock projects participating in the Western Frontier Beef Beneficiation Programme and the North West/Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Nguni Cattle Development Project. A total of 286 000 livestock will be vaccinated against anthrax, 16 700 against rabies and 28 000 against brucellosis.
Honourable members, Agricultural Risk and Disaster Management have emerged as a critical priority area for the sector as we face climate change. The department has succeeded in concluding previous relief programmes for drought relief, Taung floods and cold spell to ensure that registered claimants derive relief benefits for disasters which occurred in the past. These claimants were compensated through grant funding.
Similarly, veld fires relief scheme was also implemented in the areas of Lehurutshe, Madikwe, and Moretele to ensure replacement of agricultural infrastructure in the form of EPWP and to compensate for losses on grazing land capacity. Such infrastructure will be handed over to communities during the first quarter of the financial year.
In view of the year ahead, the department will strengthen its internal capacity to drive Early Warning Programmes within districts, to make awareness and advisory service of agricultural disaster prevention and employ proactive measures other than responding to disasters.
Honourable Speaker, information management on agricultural disasters remains critical for decision-making. In this regard, the department will revamp the Provincial Electronic Farm Register Database which will require all legible beneficiaries of services and farmers in the province to be registered.
We look forward to cooperate with all farmers, industry and farmers unions to ensure successful completion of the project by the end of the year. Our response towards agricultural risks and disasters will also be improved by creating fodder banks in various districts, for rapid response to disasters upon the approval of such funding by the national department.
Honourable members, we had last year pronounced in this august house that we will revive Taung Agricultural College and ensure that it reclaims its institutional accreditation. I am today pleased to inform the house that we have in January this year, registered 49 students for first year studies, who were admitted to study towards obtaining diploma in agriculture with a specialisation in irrigation.
The repositioning of our agricultural colleges in terms of governance implies that the two Agricultural Colleges, Potchefstroom and Taung, will exist as single institution with two campuses under single management, name and advisory council. The two would also share the scarce resources as we begin to develop these colleges into centres of excellence and rural wealth creation. These colleges were assessed in 2009 by the national department on aspects of financial capability, infrastructure development and logistics, human capital development and academic programme standards.
The outcomes of the evaluation expressed shortcomings which would require intervention in the short to medium term and prioritisation of Agricultural Colleges as a funding priority over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). An intervention plan will be drawn for implementation starting from 2010/11, and this may see the governance and funding models of our colleges changing into scheduled two entities which will be able to generate its own funding.
Honourable members, the recent unspeakable and gruesome attacks on both farm workers and farm owners in the country are to a great extent undermining the momentous task we started in March this year, when we assembled all role players to discuss challenges experienced in the farming industry, and proposed applicable solutions to those challenges.
The summit’s terms of reference were mainly to come up with appropriate measures targeted at rebuilding the mutual relationship between farm owners and their employees. This process was initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and was in preparation for the National Summit which will be held later this year.
Broadening agricultural opportunities for improved production
Programme 2.2: District Services
i) Budget: R379,613 million
Honourable Speaker, our determination to provide infrastructural support to agricultural farmers, has yielded remarkable results. It is through this resolve that the goals of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy are certainly addressed; in that, jobs are created, skills development is prioritised, and poverty and food security receive the required attention.
We have over the past years, implemented this mandate through our Flagship Projects initiative, which ensures the purchasing of agricultural equipment and infrastructure for deserving agricultural cooperatives and projects.
We have Honourable Speaker, through our Mechanisation Programme, purchased and handed over tractors and implements to the value of R7,2 million to five cooperatives throughout the province. We have accordingly constructed a total of 273 kilometres of fencing amounting to R7,6 million in various agricultural projects in the province.
This project involves the construction of fence in the livestock and crop areas at the identified project mainly for the land reform beneficiaries. To mitigate risks associated with rampant veld fires which happen especially during the dry winter season, we have over the past financial year through our Firebreaks Programme, constructed a total of 1 329 kilometres of firebreaks in various farms in all the four districts of the province.
In our endeavour to bring markets closer to the farmers and ensure proper management and control of stray animals, we have during the 2009/10 financial year, constructed a Multi Purpose Livestock Handling facility in the Greater Taung Local Municipality in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District.
Crush pens are already completed as the first phase of this project, with the second phase being the progressive construction of storerooms and administration offices. The entire project must be completed by June this year, for handing over to the Taung farming community. As at January this year a total number of 100 subsistence black farmers were registered as official participants of the much talked about NW/IDC Nguni Cattle Development project. We are proud to announce that our tireless efforts to bring female farmers closer to commercial agricultural activities are also becoming a dream come true.
Honourable members, amongst the 2009/10 beneficiaries of the Nguni
Cattle, is a group of ten women called Semellang Bomme in the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality, who became proud owners of 24 Nguni breeds. I also wish to take this opportunity to congratulate all beneficiaries, and encourage potential beneficiaries to contact my department for more information as this pilot project is in its final year.
We have during the past financial year, Honourable Speaker, ensured completion of the development and registration of 28 livestock cooperatives with the total membership of 294 as part of the Western
Frontier Beef Beneficiation programme. It is through this initiative that we endeavour to develop beef farmers, so that they become part of the value chain of the red meat industry and that they profit profoundly throughout the entire production chain.
We have as part of this initiative, already trained 600 farmers in primary livestock production through the Department of Labour’s National Skills Fund. This training will enable them to competently roll out the objectives of this programme during the current financial year.
Amongst the list of our successes, Honourable Speaker is the replacement of centre pivots for the Taung Irrigation Scheme. We will this year prioritise the repairing of the existing canal to address the problem of water loss, drainage system, roads infrastructure and maintenance thereof. The contractor is currently on site and we expect that all repairs will be completed by September this year.
Honourable Speaker, we still plead with our communities to proudly own and use all these benefits valuably. We consciously make this call Honourable members, because we have a touching experience on how these equipment are being handled. Our biggest enemy is the unending group dynamics within certain cooperatives, which lead to the misuse of machinery provided by the department. We, however, remain optimistic that with the awareness we have created around the benefits of the constructed infrastructure, beneficiaries will begin to collectively guard against the misuse and vandalism of these equipment.
The same challenge goes for agriculture starter packs that are distributed through our Letsema la Mantshatlala programme. Honourable members, we give our communities seedlings to start backyard gardens for household food security; we give some chicken layers and pigs to start agricultural projects that can go a long way in sustaining their household needs; training on how to manage these starter packs profitably and sustainably is also offered, coupled with our continued extension advisory service.
A total of 907 households benefited from this programme during the previous year, but Honourable members, our communities habitually consume the first batch of their produce until they are left with nothing to sustain the projects. We have, however, resolved to enhance our training model and closely monitor all beneficiaries in our attempt to curb this attitude.
Enforcing complete adherence to environmental legislations
Programme 3: Environmental services
i) Budget: R65,113 million
Honourable members, climate change is already happening. There is now more admittance that global climate change is a threat to sustainable development, especially in developing countries; and that it could undermine global poverty alleviation efforts and have severe implications for food security, clean water, energy supply, environmental health and human settlements. Acknowledging the overall vulnerability of South Africa to climate change impacts, it will thus be necessary to carry out adaptation measures in this country like anywhere else in the developing countries. To provide a structured and informed reflection to this challenge, Office of the Premier is coordinating a possible cooperation agreement between our provincial government and the province of Manitoba in Canada, to develop a climate change response strategy for the North West province.
The department’s contribution towards this agreement is to drive the process from a technical perspective. So far, the coordinating team has managed to develop terms of reference on the proposed project and has submitted it to the Manitoba province. With some assistance from the national Department of Environmental Affairs, we hope to get the process off the ground during this financial year as this response strategy must be informed by the country’s position resulting from the Copenhagen Summit held late 2009.
Honourable members, we acknowledge that various government institutions in the province are responsible for various Biodiversity Management and Conservation activities, but the truth is, these activities are not well coordinated. This has resulted in the duplication of efforts, gaps in terms of information, including confusion in terms of clarification of roles among the role players themselves.
To address this discrepancy, we have developed the North West Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, for us to have coordinated and integrated Biodiversity Management and Conservation activities in the province.
The implementation of this strategy will thus ensure conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components; and fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources as specified in the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Honourable Speaker, environmental crimes are becoming a serious concern throughout the country. During her Budget Vote Speech presentation at the National Parliament recently, the Minister for Environmental Affairs Ms
Buyelwa Sonjica said an urgent intervention is required, especially because these crimes are often committed by organized crime syndicates with internal connections.
The Minister in her speech said and I quote “To address these crimes adequately, enforcement and compliance capacity needs to be increased.
However, this will only be effective if we were to bring the criminal justice system into the equation.”
Having dealt with a high number of cases related to poaching activities, illegal possession, transportation and trading in wild life products in the province, we wish to re-emphasise our intent to vigorously combat these unlawful activities. Our Conservationists will in partnership with the Green Scorpions and the South African Police Service intensify unannounced raids, and will apprehend those in contravention with the law that governs environmental activities.
We have last year Honourable Speaker, made an undertaking to develop the Madibeng and Tlokwe Environmental Management Frameworks (EMF), and I am pleased to inform the house that we have successfully completed the two frameworks in December 2009 and March 2010 respectively. Although there is still some work to be done on the Madibeng EMF, we are encouraged by the support we continue to enjoy from both the Tlokwe and Madibeng Local Municipalities and the national Department of Environmental affairs throughout the entire process.
We hope to get the Tlokwe EMF officially adopted by the Tlokwe Local Municipality and the National Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs for gazetting in the current financial year; a process that will take us to the end of September this year for completion. Honourable Speaker, the installation of seven ambient air quality monitoring stations at what we regarded as “hot spots”, has demanded the development of an emission inventor for the province.
As we are in the process of developing this emission inventor, it is equally significant to inform the house that our department has been officially designated to serve as an Atmospheric Emission License Authority, from 1 April this year. This designation implies that Air Quality related projects will from this year go through the standard process of permitting.
Honourable Speaker, it is my department’s intention to continuously strive for acceptable turn-around times when dealing with applications for environmental authorisations. During the previous financial year, we managed to finalise 74 percent of applications received, and that was done within the legislated timeframe. Our target for the current financial year is to increase the number of processed applications to 80 percent.
We are optimistic that this target will be met because our Environmental Impact Assessment staff has been adequately trained to respond to the demand of authorisation service. In our efforts to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), we have investigated 13 cases of alleged illegal commencement of listed activities in the province. A total of 233 inspections for non-compliance with environmental legislation were accordingly undertaken.
Honourable members, the promulgation of the National Environmental Management Waste Act during the previous financial year came with the mandate for provinces to license general waste facilities. I am pleased to announce that we have in accordance with this Act, successfully developed a Provincial Integrated Waste Management Plan.
In implementing this plan Honourable Speaker, we have established and launched a Waste Forum which will promote absolute adherence to the Waste Management Act by coordinating all waste related issues throughout the province. Flowing from the commitment made last year regarding the Taung Skull World Heritage Site, I wish to inform the house that the site’s Integrated Management Plan is at a final draft stage. We will during the course of this year, ensure its finalisation and submit it to the Minister of Environmental Affairs for approval. Some parts of the site, including the access road, are currently under reconstruction, and we believe that this process will ultimately give the site the look equal to its status.
Equally, we have completed the feasibility study on the Roads inside the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site. We have accordingly developed and submitted the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (SoUV) to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as required.
Piloting Comprehensive Rural Development Programme
Programme 4: Rural Development
i) Budget: R25 000 million
Honourable Speaker, in our effort to make the objectives of rural development a reality, a considerable amount of work has been done in line with the Provincial Comprehensive Rural Development Programme Strategy for Mokgalwaneng village in Moses Kotane Local Municipality.
As the rural development strategic framework process is unfolding, I am pleased to report that having assessed the level of progress in areas where Comprehensive Rural Development programme is being piloted in the province, Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti and Premier Maureen Modiselle were both convinced that Rural
Development in the North West province is moving towards the right direction.
Guided by the Provincial Basket of Services for Mokgalwaneng Pilot site, I am also pleased Honourable Members to report that substantial progress has been made and some of the approved projects report is as follows:
* The construction of fence covering 78 kilometres of grazing fields is currently underway with more than 30 kilometres already completed.
* The creation of firebreaks covering a distance of 166 kilometres has been successfully completed.
* The construction of a community livestock handling facility has been completed.
* About 30 families have benefitted from the egg laying project.
* A community food garden has been resuscitated as part of our food security programme.
* The pension pay-point structure has been completed.
* Renovations at Segale Middle and Matlametlo Primary schools as well as Lencwe clinic have been completed.
So far 20 reconstruction development projects (RDP) houses have been handed over to identify beneficiaries and about 300 units have just been completed and ready to be handed over to beneficiaries. It is also critical Honourable members to note that in addressing the high rate of unemployment and skills development amongst especially young people, we have ensured that work that is being done in this pilot site is executed by local community members.
Activities in this pilot site will continue in this financial year, and they will include amongst others, the construction of a new clinic and a service delivery centre at Modikela, upgrading of the road linking Mokgalwaneng and Matlametlong, and purchasing of agricultural mechanisation package for the farming community.
Certainly, Honourable Speaker, the successful implementation of this framework does not only depend on our ability to coordinate rural development programme, but equally important is the extent to which the department can mobilise the public to support and participate in this national priority programme.
I am also pleased to inform the house that our plan to roll out rural development to other three districts of the province has been approved by the Executive Council. This approval will however be faced with serious budget limitations, as the R25 million currently allocated to this programme, is strictly for projects and not personnel.
Towards building productive and sustainable communities priorities for 2010/11
It is our considered view Honourable members that, the revitalisation of the previously distressed projects such as those threatened by the Land Bank repossession, the female and youth projects as well as the collapsed agricultural projects, must be given the desirable attention. We will as a result of this consideration, target a total of 107 projects during this financial year, and with this reviewed approach Honourable members, only few new projects will be implemented by the department. We hope that with this strategy, we will be able to minimize the number of unsustainable or non-viable projects and in the process develop our land and agrarian beneficiaries to make a meaningful living with the projects that we support.
We will also during this financial year, review our Livestock Improvement
Strategy in order to develop comprehensive support packages for livestock farmers. Through both internal and external training programmes, we will increase targeted training, research and extension support for the sectors. During the 2010 financial year, we will train 1 730 beneficiaries and conduct research to assist especially the farming community with vital production information.
We will dynamically expose young people to hands on experience in the field of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment through the envisaged Youth Development Programmes. Furthermore, ten (10) environmental youth clubs with a membership of 300 will be established and supported during the 2010/11 budget year. In total, 92 young people will benefit through targeted learnership programme initiatives.
During the year under review, the department will continue the implementation of prioritised programmes in the Integrated Management Plan of the Taung Skull and Vredefort Dome World Heritage sites. We will effectively facilitate the three environmental cooperation agreements namely, the Climate Change project with Manitoba, the cooperation agreement with North West Parks and Tourism Board and the Finnish cooperation agreement on the support to environment and Sustainable Development North West Implementation project. Through both the internal and external environmental programmes, the department will roll out environmental education and outreach programmes for the learners and educators.
We will continue with the roll-out of the Extension Recovery Plan (ERP) in all the four districts to address capacity deficiencies and create a more visible and reliable extension service. In this context, 86 extension and advisory officers will be retrained, and 32 more officers will be recruited over the MTEF period. In our quest for improved empowerment strategy targeted at women and youth as active participants in the agricultural and environmental sectors, we will this year educate 9 300 beneficiaries on environmental issues.
The department will encourage investors and Development Finance Institutions like the National Development Agency (NDA), the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), the Independent Development Trust (IDT), the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and the Land Bank to fund some of the departmental initiatives.
Conclusion
Martin Luther King in his acceptance speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964 said and I quote “Every time I take a flight, I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible - the known pilots and the unknown ground crew”.
In view of the above, I wish to thank all Members of the Executive Council, the Portfolio Committee, members of the Legislature, the Head of Department Rre Mosweu Mogotlhe, senior managers and staff of this department, farmers in their respective categories and all the unsung heroes whose work, advice and encouragement have brought us this far.
Honourable Speaker, we are at the crossroads as a nation, and we all have a responsibility to ensure that the change we clamored for comes to fruition. When we fail, we fail together and when we succeed we do so together. So let us pool our resources and ensure that we succeed. Then we would in our collectively be giving substance to what the former President, Nelson Mandela proclaimed during his inaugural address in Pretoria on 9 May 1994, and I quote “We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity”.
Honourable Speaker, let me end by reminding the House that 2010 is the year of action as pronounced by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address. This Budget Speech is indicative of our commitment and dedication to service delivery in line with the mandate given to us. I therefore take pleasure in tabling vote 13 for the 2010/11, for approval by the house:
2010/11 financial year budget
1. Programme 1: Administration
Allocated budget: R149,336 million
2. Programme 2: Agricultural services
Sub programme 2.1: Agricultural support services
Allocated budget R59,656 million
Sub Programme 2.2: District services
Allocated budge: R379,613 million
3. Programme 3: Environmental services
Allocated budget: R65,113 million
4. Programme 4: Rural development
Allocated budget: R25 000 million
Total budget: R678,718 million
