Programme Director,
Members of the Agricultural Portfolio Committee present,
Members of Senior Management of my department, representatives of agricultural public entities present,
Chief Executive Officer’s (CEOs) of agricultural line function Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs),
Presidents of farmers unions present, other stakeholders,
Ladies and gentlemen,
When I was requested to participate in this event, I decided that I would turn it into a broader agricultural skills development and training event. I decided so in order to share my views in this context and to create an awakening on the importance of training in the agricultural sector, targeting the youth, farm workers and black subsistence small-holder farmers in a developmental state.
The ANC 2009 Election Manifesto highlights many social and economic achievements of the ANC Government over the last 15 years. The manifesto also notes many social and economic issues which still need to be addressed. The key message from the ANC’s accumulated experience is that of working together with our people for more and faster change. In particular, our manifesto reflects on the major challenges facing our society high unemployment, poverty, deepening inequality and rural marginalisation.
As a response to these challenges, our manifesto identifies the following five priority areas of the ANC Government in the next five years:
-
Creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods
-
Education
-
Health
-
Crime
-
Rural development, including land reform, food production and security
A number of strategies and policies are brought together to make the best use of all our resources to address these five priorities.
Our priorities specifically target the needs of the youth, women, workers, the rural poor, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Subsequent to the National Executive Council (NEC) January 8 Statement, the ANC NEC Lekgotla was held from 16 to 17 January 2010 at Esselen Park in Ekurhuleni. The primary purpose of the NEC Lekgotla was to chart the way forward and develop a programme of action for 2010, informed by the 8 January statement and the 2009 election manifesto and mandate. The Lekgotla reflected on how far the ANC has come in implementing the 2009 Election Manifesto. The 8 January Statement provided the line of march and its theme “Working together to speed up effective service to the people” guided the drafting of the programme of action for 2010 in order to ensure that the ANC remain responsive, caring and effective in its interaction with the people it serves.
As indicated one of the five priorities identified by the ANC Manifesto is Education. The Freedom Charter states “the doors of learning and cultures shall be opened”. Education is a means of promoting good citizenship as well as preparing our people for the needs of a modern economy and a democratic society. Building on the achievements in education, the ANC government aims to ensure progressive realisation of universal schooling, improving quality education and eliminating disparities. In this regard, the government shall engage in a major renewal of the schooling and education system.
I am aware that there are a great number of young graduates roaming the streets. One can ask a question – why? Is it because schooling and tertiary education systems are flawed not to prepare our young people adequately for the market or is it because our tertiary education institutions continue to offer degrees which are completely irrelevant? My department has been managing the internship programme from 2003 in an effort to help address this challenge of many agricultural graduates roaming the streets.I am told that in a year when my department’s advertisements for placements are made through print media, up to 10 000 (ten thousand) applications from qualified youth with either a degree or national diploma are received of course, of this total agricultural graduates constitute less than three percent. This nevertheless indicates that there is something awfully wrong somewhere.
I am concerned about the high level of functional illiteracy in the agricultural sector. We have to do something about this. With 33% illiteracy level in the sector what impact does this have on margins of production by agriculture in general?
What about the training of farm workers? A developmental state must play a role in alleviating the plight of farm workers by, among others, ensuring that they are provided with the necessary resources to access education and training.
The ANC government shall therefore:
-
Work towards a free and compulsory education for all children, as an immediate step to ensure that at least 60% of all schools are no-fee schools.This includes children of farm workers.
-
Ensure that South Africa is completely liberated from illiteracy by 2014 through our mass literacy campaign.
-
Improve the quality of schooling, particularly performance in mathematics, science, and technology and language development. Measures will include provision of incentives for mathematics and science teachers. Are we doing something substantive as a department and as a sector to attract young people with good grades in maths and science to Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries?
-
Increase graduate output in areas of skills shortage, this includes measures to streamline Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and other institutions to addressing existing and forecast skills shortages. In this regard one can ask a question: What is the contribution of our universities, colleges and universities of technology?
-
Place Further Education and Training Colleges at the centre of a popular drive to develop skills development for the economy.
-
Encouraging students from working class and poor communities to go to tertiary institutions by reviewing and improving the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
I must however acknowledge the strides my department has already achieved in this direction.
Experiential training and professional development programme
Starting with today’s occasion, my department has since 2003 implemented the experiential training and internship programme, in an effort to contribute to government’s plans of alleviating poverty and unemployment.
Since inception of the programme in 2003 a total of 947 young people with requisite bachelors degrees have gone through the programme. Because the primary objective of the programme is to help prepare these youth for employment, of this total that has gone through the programme, 364 were able to secure permanent employment while still participating in the programme. Not only is the programme assisting these youth with training for the world of work but the programme is a means towards alleviation of poverty marginalisation and inequality, because while participating in the programme these young people are entitled to a monthly allowance determined under the guidelines of the Department Public Service Administration (DPSA).
The programme has over the years also catered for what is referred to as the Agriculture Industry Development Programme (AIDP). This category targets young people already involved in business or qualified unemployed graduates with an entrepreneurial urge and personal vision to follow a career in business. These are placed in various companies and/or agribusinesses to acquire requisite knowledge and expertise in the area of business.
During their stay in the programme, they are registered to attend an accredited and unit standard based Advanced Management Development course with the University of Stellenbosch to equip them with entrepreneurial skills to enable them to be business men and women in agriculture. To date a total of 137 young people have participated in the programme. My call is that it is important that these 137 well-equipped young people end up as entrepreneurs in agriculture and not as mere employers of organisations somewhere. If I may ask a question, “Where are these young people now as we speak?” What support is given to them to start up own businesses and/or become shareholders in existing agribusinesses.
It is only through this that skewed participation in the sector can be addressed especially at agribusiness development level.
The latest category added to the programme in 2008 is what is referred to as Young Professional Development Programme (YPDP). This category targets young graduates in possession of requisite Bachelors Degrees such as BSc, BSc Agriculture, BSc Engineering, B.VSc or post-graduate qualification in agriculture or natural science to study further at Honours, Masters or PhD levels in the area of research leading to innovation in the critical areas in agriculture.
Successful candidates are taken as interns and are attached to an experienced member or supervisor while furthering their studies on a part-time basis.
Candidates at Masters and PhD levels involved in research work may also be linked to the Agricultural Research Council or other research laboratories and institutions. A total of 61 are participating in the programme.
I believe that this is a good programme as long as we make sure that these young people are not lost to the sector once they have completed.
I have been made aware that the budget for this programme has remained static over the years while the remuneration of interns and other related costs increased annually.
Internship budget
The annual budget of the experiential training, internship and Professional Development Programme (YPDP) is R8 million.
The overall cost per intern per year is R60 000 for normal interns attached to Directorates, R87 000 per Agricultural Industry Development Programme (AIDP) intern and R100 000 per YPDP intern per annum.
Due to budget cuts in my Department, I am told that the AIDP part of the internship programme will be discontinued during the 2010/11 financial year.
External bursary scheme
In line with the determination of the ANC government to work towards a free and compulsory education for all children and/or to ensure that at least 60% of schools are no-fee schools, my Department is annually awarding comprehensive bursaries to deserving disadvantaged youth, who have been admitted in various institutions of learning to pursue studies in scarce and critical agricultural skills.
Since the inception of the bursary scheme, a total of 775 young people at high school and tertiary levels benefited from the scheme.A total of 313 bursary holders successfully completed their studies.The total money spent on the scheme thus far is R36 million. Students in the following fields of studies received bursaries:
-
Veterinary science
-
Viticulture and oenology
-
Bio-resource engineering
-
Agricultural economics
-
Food and consumer science
-
Biotechnology
-
Pasture science
-
Genetics
-
Entomology
I am aware of the structured and assessment problems associated with the B.VSc programme, and the fact that Pretoria University is the only university offering this critical programme in the country and that as such academic progress has been slow.
My Department has over the years engaged the management of Pretoria University to review the programme and finally I am happy that from 2011 onwards there shall be a newly reviewed B.VSc programme which will take six years instead of seven years.
Notwithstanding, the acute shortage of this skill in the sector, has persuaded me to devise other strategies beyond merely depending on Pretoria University.
Bursary budget
The total annual budget of the scheme is R8.3 million. I am aware that the need out there is greater and that it outweighs this annual budget by far. In line with the ANC Government’s objective to encourage students from the working class and poor communities to go to tertiary institutions by reviewing and improving the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), further negotiations between my department and this institution must be pursued.Students pursuing studies in scarce agricultural study fields must not be excluded by NSFAS.
Over and above this, the sourcing of resources must involve bodies such as the National Research Foundation where my department could enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Research Foundation (NRF) to identify and provide good post-graduate candidates in agriculture and the NRF funds them.
The private sector must also play a role, including the National Skills Fund in the Department of Labour. Key stakeholders such as the agricultural line function SETAs, AgriSETA, FoodBev and Forestry SETA must join hands.
I want to see a focused programme targeting the training of farm workers.In doing this, resources must not be made to be a handicap.
Promotion of agriculture as a career of choice among the youth
Recently when I met with the Senior Management of my department at Tshepise Game Lodge in Limpopo, I specifically posed a question asking whether we are doing more to attract young people to this sector.As far as I am concerned, the negative perception about agriculture as a career of choice which most young South Africans possess, must be addressed in a much more aggressive manner.
Since 2006/7 my department has conducted career awareness which incorporated a career awareness pilot project in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the Northern Cape.
Over and above this there is also a dedicated post of an Agricultural Career Awareness Officer attached to the training unit in my Department.
Since the inception of the programme a total of more than 10 000 young people in various parts of the country have been reached. Of this total 71 registered with various institutions of higher learning to pursue studies in agricultural fields.Of this total, 10 successfully completed their studies. In terms of monetary value though, the programme proved to be quite costly.A total of R3.5 million has thus far been spent on the programme.
My contention is that the promotion of agriculture as a career of choice among the youth cannot be the responsibility of my department alone. Other sector partners must also be involved.
Only in this way are we going to succeed in creating a consciousness that agriculture is unsurpassed in its offerings and prospects.
I have been made aware that in KZN alone, through the pilot project a total of 60 young people registered for agricultural scarce study fields at KZN and other universities.Of this total 10 have already graduated.
This is an indication that if more can be done, more can be achieved.
Re-positioning colleges of agriculture into national agricultural training institutes
Although my department traversed good milestones in the transformation of the 12 (twelve) colleges of agriculture since 2000, I would like to see the process concluded soon. The colleges are strategically positioned in providing skills training to farmers and in providing formal qualifications to young people interested in agriculture.
I am aware of the great progress achieved in turning these colleges into national agricultural training institutes (ATIs) where first of all, they will service the ecological and agricultural needs of the regions where they are situated and service specific value markets, like organic farming and others.
In line with study recommendations, these institutes must offer NQF level two to six qualifications for the benefit of current and prospective farms and agri-businesses.
They will also offer on a contractual basis training programmes outside the NQF, i.e. responding to geo-political needs of provinces and other stakeholders. Furthermore they will function as centres of rural wealth creation by assisting local and district municipalities and other investors with expertise to support rural development initiatives.
I have been made aware that the norms and standards to determine the functioning of these ATIs have been completed and that over and above this, a study to assess their level of compliance to these norms and standards has also been finalised.What is now outstanding is the development of an Agricultural Training Institute Bill to enforce the new governance model of these institutes.
International study programmes
With the finalisation of our International Training Strategy my department has been facilitating the placement of South Africans in various institutions of learning and/or universities in overseas countries in the fields of agriculture. A number of young people with requisite experience and qualifications were placed through programmes such as African Land and Food Fellowship, Swedish International Development Agency and others, thereby gaining invaluable knowledge and experience in agricultural practices outside the borders of South Africa.
This in line with the medium term goal of the ANC Government which commits to working with the countries of the South to promote south-south relations and agitate for a fairer and more human international trade and financial system and a just world order.
The ANC led Government believe that the struggle against poverty and under-development is also an international struggle.
A total of 297 South Africans have thus far been assisted by my department to participate in a variety of agricultural international study programmes.
What I however would like to see is some form of evaluation of the impact of these international experiences on the South African agricultural sector.
Are these skills and experiences acquired from other countries relevant to our local challenges?What contribution do these experiences make towards addressing our challenges of poverty, inequality and rural marginalisation?
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) /DAFF capacity building projects
The signing of an agreement between my department and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations on 30 March 2007 provides a window of opportunity for us in terms of enlisting international technical assistance for both the development and implementation of capacity building strategies.
$9.8 million transferred to FAO for projects to capacitate government officials in agriculture for the management of international aid and capacity building of subsistence small-holder farmers, must yield tangible results with the stipulated period of five years of the project. South Africa is now part of the global village and skills for international aid management must be enhanced at all costs.The project must be effectively monitored to move in line with agreed outputs and indicators.
Commodity-based mentorship programme
My department has been facilitating commodity-based mentorship programmes since 2005. My department had reached an agreement with industry, in particular the Agricultural Commodity Organisations, to work together in developing appropriate skills among the beneficiaries of land and agrarian reform through mentorship.In this regard, through mentorship, black individuals would be equipped with appropriate skills to participate effectively and meaningfully in agribusiness.
I have been made aware that a total of 22 973 previously disadvantaged individuals benefited from the programme since inception. The total amount of money spent by my Department since the inception of the programme is R24.4 million. My appreciations go to the 13 commodity organisations which participated in the programme, making their expertise available in developing the skills of Black subsistence and small holder farmers.
Due to the success of this pilot, my department has now finalised a national commodity-based mentorship implementation framework which will ensure that provinces are properly guided in implementing the programme from the 2010/11 financial year onwards. Through the established central support structure in my department, provinces will be effectively monitored to ensure that the 04% of the 10% dedicated for training in their Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) annual allocations is used for commodity-based mentorship.
I would like to call on the Agricultural Commodity Organisations to continue to hold hands with us in this regard to also make sure they play their role sacrificially.It is only when we all work together that we can achieve more.
I have said at the beginning that although today’s event is to wish these young people well as they leave the department, the occasion must also be used to emphasise pertinent issues relating to the development of skills in the sector.
While my department currently has a number of good training and skills development programmes more can be done.
The national Agricultural Education and Training Strategy we have provides us with the platform we need to do this.
May I take this opportunity to say to you young people that you should not relent in your quest for income-generating opportunities. You have been exposed to what agriculture is all about.During your twelve months stay in my department a lot of your misperceptions about agriculture have been corrected.
You have interacted with and witnessed very intelligent people, contrary to the general belief that agriculture belongs to the unintelligent.
Go out there and be ambassadors of agriculture, dully spreading a positive message about the industry. The fact that after 12 months some of you still have not yet secured employment is an indication of the existence of other doors out there waiting for you to open.It is not all doom and gloom.
Thank you.
