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21 May 2008

In the light of escalating food and fuel prices the Department of Agriculture urge people to go back their roots and plough their land to have food on their tables. This call stems from the department’s commitment to help people with the necessary resources in their endeavors to fight poverty and starvation.

General Manager in Rural Development, Mr Zukile Pityi, during the hand-over of a tractor in Port Elizabeth called on communities to embark on food production programmes that are supported by the department. He said the increasing food prices can be conquered if people were involved in cultivating their homestead gardens and the fields that are currently not used because of the lack of interest in agriculture.

The Eastern Cape has all the land it needed to produce enough food for its citizens, including the country but people in the province do not see the potential of the land hence the department has introduced the Green Revolution Strategy. Through the Green Revolution Strategy, the department seeks mobilise and organise people to go back to the land. This will help the department to know the people’s needs and focus on developing the economy of the province through agriculture and rural development.

Underpinning the Strategy is the department’s Six-Peg Policy framework that aims to fence of arable and grazing land, provide dipping tanks and dipping material, stock dams, tractors and implements, irrigation infrastructure and human resource development. Mr Pityi stressed that people should form co-operatives and association so that the department can elevate their standard of living.
He said the government departments were working together in a bid to curb current food crisis, which affecting poor people. He added that if people worked together they can be able to produce balanced food.

The department also calls on the private sector to join it in its bid to poverty by investing and supporting the co-operatives and associations aimed at curbing this food crisis. It also calls people who are not using their land to release their land to people who willingly fighting poverty and underdevelopment through agriculture.

Part of the Green Revolution’s line of attacking poverty is to provide people with basic production tools in the form of seedlings, seeds, fertilizers, training and mentorship and basic irrigation equipment. Corporate Service General Manager, Ntomibi Baart urged people to focus on the programmes and projects brought to them by the government. She added that people should celebrate how “precious” the land is by cultivating it.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
21 May 2008