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28 March 2006

Madame Speaker

A few years ago the President gave a remarkable, but little noticed speech at an international event in Esselen Park. He asked that we once again attend to the concept of the “agrarian question”. In a sense he was revisiting the work of the late Govan Mbeki, who was the major figure in the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) who participated in and analysed the problems of rural people during the rural political struggle of the 1940s to early 1960s (see his South Africa: The Peasants’ Revolt, 1964).

The agrarian question investigates and analyses two historical processes: On the one hand (as a first phase) how capitalist social relations are established in agriculture, with consequent transformations of production and productivity, and on the other hand (as a second phase) the mechanisms through which increased agricultural production leads to the formation and development of industry.

We are in a third phase of this agrarian transition. In the first phase the agrarian question was resolved for white farmers by the apartheid system, and in the second phase it is being completed for big capital and industrial development by the wave of deregulation and market liberalisation. The agrarian interest in the apartheid state was expressed in the extensive subsidies and regulation to support white farming. As the state and big capital planned for the end of apartheid, support for white farming dwindled. With the assertion of greater competitiveness and efficiency, large scale capitalist agriculture and industrial farming strides forward.

But for the dispossessed and historically disadvantaged the agrarian question is not resolved or completed. We are still in this third phase and it is likely to continue for some time. Without state involvement in the socio-economic relations and the conditions of accumulation, progress will not be possible. What gave success in the first and second phases must be retained. There must be state support, and there must be building of capital. But more must be added because of the enormity of the remaining agrarian problem.

Two issues are conspicuous in this third phase. In the first place, the agrarian question has a quite localised nature. In the second place, considerable care should be taken that the building of capital is not excluding the masses of the people (that is that economic growth is shared and that agricultural black empowerment is broad-based and extensive).

Much progress has been made in delivering land reform and services at the local level in the past year. There is, however, room for improvement, especially in terms of planning and implementation coordination between the three spheres of government. This concern was articulated by the President during his State of the Nation address:

“…the Minister and the Department will also ensure that the land redistribution is aligned to the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDS) as well as the Integrated Development Plans (IDP) of municipalities”

It is at the local service delivery level where we need to move faster if we are to address the challenges of the third phase of the agrarian question in the Second Economy. We must make the necessary interventions in the First Economy to accelerate progress towards the achievement of higher levels of local economic growth.

[Discharging its mandate in the remaining two years of its existence, the Land Claims Commission will align its strategies and its support to municipalities to enable municipalities to determine land demand for restitution beneficiaries. This support will be in the form of pro-active implementation of the Provincial Post Settlement Support System, which provides for amongst others, a Provincial Reform Forum comprising of Advisory Technical Committee on which District and Local Municipalities will be represented.

Whilst it is important that land reform targets are met, it is also more crucial that this is undertaken in a manner that leaves behind a legacy of high levels of productivity and sustainability. Spatial and Information Planning will thus play a pivotal role in providing the requisite analysis support, to all tiers of government, in term of analysis of key variables (e.g. soil quality and suitability, rainfall and topography analysis, etc). Such support will not be confined to agricultural projects but be extended to human settlements as well. Alignment of Spatial Planning Information to the municipalities’ IDPs is crucial for the democratic state to address the current human settlements patterns reminiscent of the apartheid legacy; to determine most suitable land for various land uses; to formulate interventions to reverse undesirable settlement growth patterns as well as to map and integrate land reform and restitution projects into IDPs.

The Department will provide more resources to accelerate support to Rapid Land Release for Housing. Integration and analysis of state land data into provincial and municipal IDPs will be aggressively undertaken to enable the acceleration of pro-active land release leading to sustainable development

In line with our vision to provide compassionate government service to our people, the Department will increase the momentum to change the lives of our fellow South Africans especially those in the rural areas for the better by bringing land reform services closer to them. Undertaken in close co-operation with local government, these will include:

* establish information points and outlets at District Level Delivery Centres (DLDs) as well as at Multi Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs);
* establish a Deeds Registry in Nelspruit by the end of this financial year (2005/6) and align Deeds Registries with provincial boundaries, again by the end of this financial year;
* establish a number of new Surveyor-General offices at the local levels;

Given the indispensability of integration between the three spheres of government in planning and implementation, the Department has already embraced the Inter Governmental Relations Framework Act as our guide and started with the process to develop land and agrarian sector plans by Province which should be inclusive of all spheres of government as well as other social and private partners.]

In the second place we should have great clarity on the extensive nature of the Agri-BBBEE policy.

In this respect one sometimes finds that the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) is understood in a narrow sense: We tend to ignore the “S” in the initiative: “shared growth”. The triple goals of this initiative are: accelerated growth, employment creation and reduced poverty. The programme, in other words, has broad developmental goals. Yes, it is true that we must develop meaningful economic participation by mainstreaming black farmers and entrepreneurs. But Agri-BEE must also contribute to job creation and reducing poverty. Thus it becomes truly part of the resolution of the third phase of the agrarian question.

South Africa has a limited potential for the horizontal expansion of agricultural production. There is some potential for vertical expansion. It includes especially potential for increased production in former homeland areas. A greater export orientation in these areas can increase employment opportunities.

If Agri-BEE should also create job opportunities and reduce poverty, it must encompass two other considerations beside mere economic growth:

The first is to consider that international evidence suggests that small farms are more efficient per hectare than larger farms. This is attributed to the greater use of labour per unit of land (mainly family labour). It is a matter of a larger number of farms operators and a larger number of workers. Agri-BEE should encourage both small as well as large-scale farmers to employ more labour using technologies.

The second is to consider that land reform on its own may have adverse consequences for the creation of rural livelihoods. Land reform can not stand on its own. It must include the objectives of job creation and poverty reduction. Land reform must be accompanied by the availability of labour-using methods and efforts to improve the skills of farm-workers and owners to create greater employment. This must be pro-actively promoted by the state. Land reform will not of necessity provide more jobs in agriculture; it will merely replace the current labour on farms. To conclude the third phase of the agrarian question, land reform must be developmental in nature. A long term commitment of human, financial and natural resources to production processes, which is labour using and not labour saving, must be made.

Madame Speaker, let me mention a few successes achieved by the State-owned entities reporting to this Ministry.

The Land Bank, through its Corporate Social Investment entered into a partnership with Roundabout (Pty) Ltd to provide safe drinking water to previously disadvantaged schools and communities in the outlying rural areas. The pilot phase of this project started in Limpopo with the provision of safe drinking borehole water to nine schools. The second phase of the project will be rolled out to 18 schools in Eastern Cape during 2006/07 financial year.

The Exotic Diseases Division (EDD) of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has evaluated the efficacy of two vaccines produced by Fort Dodge and Intervet respectively, against Avian Influenza (H5N2). The intention is, if the vaccines are efficacious, the Department of Agriculture (DoA) will recommend licensing them for use by the Ostrich Industry.

As part of the Application of Meteosat Second generation (GSM) Data in Agriculture project funded by the EU, a satellite dish was installed at the ARC, by means of which the whole of Africa, with its adjacent oceans, is receiving data every 15 minutes from the satellite located 3600 km above the earth. The project researches the data received for agricultural purposes like drought monitoring and animal stress and plant pest indices. The control of migratory pests, weeds and diseases is a public good basic to a productive agricultural sector and to risk management in agriculture.

A number of table grape selections from the ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij breeding programme are being evaluated overseas and extremely positive results were obtained in the Northern Hemisphere (Spain and California) during the past seasons. A late white seedless selection (1-6819) did very well in both California and Spain and registration for Plant Breeders’ Rights are underway. In California four, five of this selection will be in production next year

A license agreement to commercialise two ARC bred table grapes (Regal and Sunred) in Tunisia and Saudi Arabia was finalised. Currently, we are busy with three other license agreements to commercialise ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij bred stone fruit varieties in Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, Chile and Australia.

The first ever contract with regard to international collaboration between the ARC and CIRAD (France) regarding the evaluation of foreign pineapple cultivars under local conditions was signed and during November 2005 the first material was received from CIRAD. These 11 new pineapple hybrid lines are now being multiplied by tissue culture in Nelspruit. This is a major intervention that would benefit the pineapple industry in South Africa because material of superior and improved quality with regard to several horticultural aspects may now become available locally.

There is great excitement in the Bushbuck-ridge area, because the first commercial banana juice in South Africa has been produced. Several small scale farmers planted the banana variety Pisang Awak, from which the juice is extracted. The project on conservation and propagation of medicinal plants has managed to collect 76 different species, which were planted at a site near Moganyaka Village in the Limpopo Province. The Traditional Healers Organisation is involved in the project as their members are participating in collecting and naming indigenous medicinal plants.

The high value crop programme in the Eastern Cape has streamlined activities and participating villages in the OR Tambo district were assisted to form structured and functional groups. There are currently 17 villages that have formed a group and elected a committee. Soil samples were collected from 267 participating farmers and analyses carried out in preparation for the 2005 planting season. Village history and status has also been collected for participating villages. Herbs were harvested from a further nine trial sites in the OR Tambo and Chris Hani Districts and the oil extracted.

The project on development of a subtropical crop industry in the Eastern Cape has progressed very well. The number of trees planted in the OR Tambo District is now in excess of 20 000 with just more than 1 000 homestead farmers being involved. It is envisaged that these high value crops will act as a catalyst in the development of an entire village renewal model. The effective functioning of village committees has ensured that each village is becoming self-reliant and responsible for their own plantings.

Thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
28 March 2006
Source: Department of Land Affairs (http://landaffairs.pwv.gov.za)