Theme: 'Production discipline, for national food security'
Programme director
Honourable MECs
Representatives from BUSA, AgriSA, FAWU, Woman on Farms
Directors-General
Heads of Department
Senior managers
Ladies and gentlemen
I extend a special welcome to the emerging farmers present today, and thank them for accepting our invitation to attend this very important workshop. I am aware that some of you have had to travel long distances to get here, we thank you for taking the time out to be here.
The workshop is important for the following reasons. Since the inception of the new administration in May last year, we agreed as government that we want to do things differently. Government has adopted the Outcomes Based Approach, which has 12 outcomes. The Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform is responsible for Outcome 7, namely, ‘vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities and food security for all’.
Linked to Outcome 7 are five outputs which are contained in a delivery agreement signed by contributing ministers. The significance of signing these agreements is to ensure better accountability and coordination of commitments made by government departments.
The aim of this workshop is to assess whether the Pro-active Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS), has achieved its intended objectives, and if not,what needs to be done differently. It is important to hear, and learn from your experiences on the ground, and at the end of this workshop, find lasting solutions to challenges in this regard.
In the words of the president “what will we do better, faster and smarter?”
The first question we must answer over the next two days is how the PLAS,which we concluded is a good policy, but may have implementation problems, can more effectively contribute to achieving the objectives of agrarian transformation, such as sustainable agrarian reform, de-racialisation of the rural economy for shared and sustained growth; democratic and equitable land allocation and use across gender, race and class; and, strict production discipline for guaranteed national food security?
A further critical question we must answer is, given your experiences with the PLAS, whether the programme is contributing to our goal of sustainable agrarian reform.
Government has, under output 1 of outcome 7, set the objective of achieving ‘sustainable agrarian reform with small and large scale farming,’ the driver of this output is farming.
The objective of output 2, is ‘improved access to diverse and affordable food,’ the driver is food security.
Farmers, such as you present here today, play a critical role in the achievement of these outputs. Production discipline is the key to achieving this. We must thus discuss how you will contribute to the achievement of these outputs.
Ladies and gentleman, we are all aware that land reform hasn’t always produced the intended results. I have during budget speeches in Parliament, indicated that there is a need to find more pragmatic solutions for land reform, and that this will be done in conjunction with others. This workshop thus serves as a forum for finding such solutions.
One such solution, which we have introduced as a means of responding to the challenges of collapsing land reform projects, and defunct irrigation schemes in the former homelands, is a new programme called “Recapitalisation and Development”. The objectives of this programme are to increase production; to guarantee food security; to graduate small scale farmers into commercial farmers; and, to create employment opportunities within the agricultural sector. A more detailed presentation on this will follow my address, including discussions amongst you during the commissions.
The Recapitalisation and Development programme is accessible primarily to farmers and communities that had received land from the state, but had not received the necessary support to sustain production; and, for the revitalisation of irrigation schemes in the former homeland areas.
The September 2010 Framework for the Recapitalisation and Development Programme (RADP) for land reform farms, identifies that models such as strategic partnerships, mentorship and co-management will ensure successful implementation of our land reform programmes.
We have realised that land reform cannot be successful if we are going to manage processes from across fences. The majority of you present here today, know that the farming community is close-knit; one farmer depends on the other and visa versa. Sharing knowledge and experience, as well as working together in this sector is what makes it a success.
We want to discard the ‘go-it-alone’ and silo mentality and approaches to previous programmes, and actively adopt governments new approach of working together (as envisaged in the Outcomes based approach); we must all, that is, government, emerging and commercial farmers, organised labour, business and NGOs, work together to ensure that land reform is a success and contributes to the objectives as set out in the outcomes based approach. It is only through working together, that we will achieve more.
I recently visited the Free State province, where we launched one of the first pilot projects for Recapitalisation and Development, namely a strategic partnership between 11 emerging farmers and Bloemfontein Abattoirs; it is aptly titled ‘The Red Meat Pilot Project’ and is modeled around the beef industry value chain. The 11 emerging farmers will contribute and benefit throughout this value chain, and will most importantly, have a strategic partner that will work closely with them throughout the project, as well as share in the risk and ensure that skills are transferred to the emerging farmers.
Ladies and gentleman, many farm workers still do not have secure tenure and may not even be aware of their rights in this regard. I am encouraged by AgriSA’s recent statement that they want to work closely with government, in ensuring that the rights of farm workers and dwellers, are respected. I look forward to interactions with them in this regard.
Cabinet approved the draft Land Tenure Security Bill on Wednesday 8 December 2010, for public comment and consultation. I encourage you to actively participate during this process. The department will soon make a copy of the Bill available to you.
The Bill will replace the ESTA and LTA, and further introduces a Land Rights Management Board to support and sustain agri-villages, which are intended to deal with tenure security, sustainable human settlements and food production.
This Bill will be informed by the following objectives:
- To protect relative rights of farm workers; farm dwellers and landowners
- To enhance the tenure rights of farm dwellers and
- To ensure food security through sustained production discipline.
The Draft Green Paper, which is currently before Cabinet, contains new proposals on land reform. One such proposal is that of strategic partnerships and is based on: co-management, mentorship and share equity. This workshop should thus serve to enhance the discussion on these policy proposals. This workshop is tasked with the duty of devising mechanisms of how best we can utilize the PLAS to benefit our farm workers and their families while ensuring optimal production discipline on the farms.
It is imperative that during the course of today and tomorrow we work together, engaging in vigorous debate and discussion to craft a new way of transforming the rural economy, through improved partnerships and models that empower potential and current emerging farmers as well as farm workers and dwellers, and in turn transform the rural economy.
Your future and those of generations to follow depend on the outcome of this workshop. As such, it is imperative that at the end it, we should walk away having developed lasting solutions.
I thank you.
