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29 JUNE 1999

As Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, my vision for agriculture is that of an agricultural sector that is globally competitive, sustainable and diverse in its structure and participation.

We move from the premise that whilst agriculture is an essential component of the economic sector, it has a critical role to play in social as well as rural development. In response to this, in the next five years the focus of government attention will be to giving effective to maximising the positive impact agriculture can have in our rural areas. To do this we will draw on the capacity of the existing agricultural sector. In addition through a range of diverse, targeted and joint interventions broaden access to and increase the number of successful small and medium sizes enterprises in the sector.

Our planned delivery in key areas identified by President Mbeki, will now dealt with in greater detail.

PARTNERSHIPS

Within the next few months, we will establish the Letsema framework for Agricultural Delivery and Empowerment after consultation with stakeholders and endorsement by Minister, The Letsema Framework outlines structures and systems of co-operative government to facilitate delivery and empowerment of farmers through their own organisations, as well as the role of national, provincial and local governments and the private sector, service and community organisations in rural development.

At the annual agricultural summit the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs with her MEC counterparts, will meet with key stakeholders in the sector to identity common issues to be addressed individually and collectively. Working groups and task teams will be established to deal with identified issues and report back at the next summit.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Agriculture has a strong role play in rural development, since increases in production and incomes provide the stimulus for the development of off-farm production and services, especially when the increases are generated by small scale farmers. The agriculture departments are working with ARC to promote improved technologies and raise outputs and incomes in agriculture. This is a long-term approach, requiring a complete reorientation of skills and service delivery to farmers, and the decentralisation of services to the level of municipalities or farmers' associations.

During the next five years we will implement a farmer settlement programme that will also specially target young people and women as beneficiaries.

Successful farmer settlement programmes world-wide have happened when appropriate planning for integrated development and the provision for support services happens timeously. I will therefore lay emphasis on the need to improve the institutional arrangements for agricultural development and services provision by:-

* strengthening the relationships and co-ordinating mechanisms between the departments of agriculture nationally and provincially and at the same time bringing the planning and implementation within the restitution and redistribution programmes in the department of Land Affairs as well as the financial services and support programmes of the Land Bank, the national Agricultural Marketing Council and the Agricultural Research Council in alignment with national focus areas.

* Building on the existing co-operation arrangements which exist with other departments and launch joint programmes in the rural areas. Some examples of this are the initiative to restructure the irrigation schemes in the Northern and Eastern Cape Provinces in such a way that we make water available to entrepreneurs in a manner that allows them to work collectively whilst using the water wisely. (We are implementing this programme with technical assistance from the CGIAR International Water Management Institute).

* Working through partnerships with the private business and non-governmental sector to ensure that appropriate and adequate infrastructure, information and technology capacity is available particularly for use by the small holder producers and resource limited producers. We have some experience of this and I will continue to challenge all the agricultural sectors to collaborate with us in the areas of training, learnerships, mentorships and joint ventures in exports, value addiction and marketing of locally produced products. We have established farmer support centres in the Eastern Cape as a pilot to test the concept of a one stop centre - where services are provided from one point of reference by the government, farmers organisations and the private input suppliers.

* Developing and implementing support programmes to ensure we have a comprehensive approach to animal, plant and genetic resources development.

INCENTIVES TO ENCOURAGE SAVINGS

The NDA will launch a R50 million national Village Financial Co-operatives Programme within three months. The Village Banks will be replicated across the country after having been piloted in the North West, as they proved to be a viable and popular means of mobilising rural savings among the ordinary farming communities. They also attracted the attention and support of our US counterparts who, through BNC Agriculture Committee, have a total of more than R15 million to facilitate the establishment of village banks, and providing training and training material. Part of this amount will go to the establishment of the village Financial Services Co-operatives national regulatory authority, the Financial Services Co-operatives' association.

ESTABLISHMENT OF CO-OPERATIVES AND AGRI-BUSINESS

We are reviewing current co-operatives legislation in order to provide an enabling framework for the co-operative form of enterprise and make co-operatives more accessible to all. We are also considering the proper role of Government in co-operative development and the development of an appropriate structure to deliver support services to co-operatives in emerging communities.

Agribusiness Development will be a new thrust aimed at job creation, black economic development and expanding the income generating opportunities in agriculture by focusing on value adding and the exploitation of the opportunities presented by the diverse indigenous fauna. We are developing this initiative with the Department of Trade and Industry and expect to make an announcement soon in this regard.

PRIVATISATION/RESTRUCTURING OF STATE ASSETS

The NDA is to implement the findings of a study conducted over the past 18 months into the restructuring of state assets at a national and provincial level. The Restructuring of Agricultural State Owned Enterprises will range from irrigation to dairy and meat projects. We are also finding the corporatisation of
Onderstepoort Biological Products and dealing with Abakor.

CRIME

Fighting crime is primarily the work of the security forces, but the correlation between poverty, crime and race that the President pointed to, has great resonance in this sector. It is by contributing to the reduction of poverty and spreading access to land that we will contribute to the overall reduction of crime. In addition, the Animal Identification Bill will be passed at the next sitting of Parliament, and the NDA will liaise with the Department of Safety and Security, specifically the Stock Theft Unit, with respect to applying the measures set out in the Bill.

AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

In an attempt to achieve the objectives of the African Renaissance, the NDA is involved in implementing the creation of early warning and information systems for food security. We have reached agreement within SADC on the harmonisation of Sanity and Phytosanity standards, and we will conduct regional workshops with our African partners and the WTO in order to create awareness and develop capacity on SPS issues. We will also be involve in technology development and transfer. We will promote research and development to support the production of root fibres, new and indigenous crops and traditional medicinal crops on a commercial basis.

J
OB CREATION AND THE LABOUR MARKET

The NDA is convening a job summit on agriculture in August. It will identify specific impediments to investment and job creation and how we remove them. A programmes of action will be produced to be implemented by the NDA and its stakeholders partners.

An investment Promotion Pilot has been running during the last two years in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province, under the aegis of the BNC Agriculture Committee. More than R50 million has been leveraged from the United States. We are now launching a full-scale programme countrywide comprising agri-business, risk management, market access development, young farmer settlement, equity schemes and joint venture schemes.

During 1998/99 R25 million was spent on 16 projects spread over all the provinces, with the emphasis on job creation as part of the LandCare programme. This programme addresses resource conservation in rural areas, i.e. caring for the land by applying better livestock production practices, rehabilitating and reclaiming degraded areas and improving the ground cover. The R25 million allocation for the current financial year will concentrate on rural infrastructure development.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE

The Department is to launch an Agricultural Skills Development Programme in the current financial year. The greater part of the Agricultural Skills Development Programme will focus on in service and on the job training in the sector. We will also focus on ensuring a pool of scientists, engineers, agronomists, technicians and other special skills. Another area of concern is tertiary education and we will complete the transfer of the Agricultural Colleges from provinces to the national department. We will also further develop our Agricultural Youth Initiatives, which provides for learnerships, mentorships and bursaries. Flowing from the Female Farmer of the Year Award in August this year, an evaluation of the impact of the Step Up loans for women, renewed attention will be paid to design an implementation of the Women's Economic Empowerment through Agricultural Programme.

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