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1 August 2008

Preamble

We, the stakeholders in agriculture in South Africa, participating at the Agri-Consultation on the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme in Limpopo, South Africa from 30 July to 1 August 2008 and representing national and provincial departments of agriculture, the Department of Land Affairs, Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development, state-owned enterprises, representatives of the provincial standing committees on agriculture, agribusiness and agro-processors, farmer organisations (TAU-SA, National African Farmers Union [NAFU] and AgriSA), farm worker organisations, civil society organisations, commodity organisations and development finance institutions;

Acknowledge the urgent need to unleash the potential of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme as a tool for poverty alleviation and economic development;

Note with concern the escalating food prices and high energy prices;

Note that the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme is a vehicle for responding to the continuing escalation of food and energy prices and the consequent deepening hardships experienced by the poor in our communities and the need for the agriculture sector to contribute towards food security, jobs and growth;

Note that the Polokwane resolutions and government have called for a comprehensive and clear rural development strategy, which builds the potential for rural sustainable livelihoods as part of an overarching vision of rural development.

Note that the Maputo Declaration urged governments to increase the allocation of the agriculture budget to 10% of the national budget;

Note that the Land Summit Resolution of 2005 called for the speeding up of Land Reform and Post Settlement support for all land reform beneficiaries;

Note that the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) resolutions which underlined the importance of the agriculture green revolution for increased agricultural production;

Note that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) high-level conference resolutions called all countries to address the challenges of bio-energy, climate change and the current situation of souring food prices that have an adverse impact on food security;

Note with concern that negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have broken down;

Align ourselves with the initiative of the war on poverty campaign;

Recognise the urgent need to take appropriate measures through structured partnerships aimed at accelerating the implementation of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme;

Note that the success of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme (LARP) is inextricably linked to, among others, the resolution of farm dweller evictions and crime on farms.

Resolve to:

Accelerate sustainable land reform; increase black entrepreneurs in agribusiness;

Increase agricultural production; increase agricultural trade; and provide universal access to support services to target groups complete the Agriculture Sector Plan Review by end of August;

Fast track the implementation of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme through:
* Making available the recommendations of this consultation to the MECs for implementation
* Launch the Ilima campaign province by province
* Link the LARP action plans to the integrated development planning (IDP)

Establish mechanisms of creating a government supported national co-operative to provide affordable staple foods to the poor;

Establish a national food reserve facility.

Commit to:

1. Accelerate sustainable land reform

Government, farmer organisations, agribusinesses and commodity organisations
* Develop risk-sharing plans/strategies among sector partners in the implementation of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme

Government
* Fast-track the restitution process
* The Commission for Land Restitution should fast-track and remove all bottlenecks to complete the land restitution process and bring to an end the prevailing uncertainty which hampers investment in agriculture
* Municipalities to release more land held by them for small scale urban farmers
* Focus on fallow and underutilised land, including land in communal areas for increased production and productivity
* The process of selecting beneficiaries under any pillar of land reform should be done with the active involvement of municipalities, councillors, traditional leaders, farmer organisations, agribusinesses, women and youth organisations

Sector partners
* Assist government with the identification of suitable land for land reform purposes and mechanisms for establishing fair and equitable compensation.

2. Increase black entrepreneurs in the agribusiness

Government together with the agriculture private sector:
* Create production hubs in local areas with farmer support for linkages between local and international markets
* Package and provide information on financial services to small
farmers
* Diversify production activities outside normal products to include horticulture and other high value crops for creation of economic enterprises and export opportunities in the sector
* Improve access to local markets including fresh produce markets and retail stores

Government
* Create an enabling environment for the small farmer to access finance and provide instruments that will allow participation of commercial banks and other financial institutions to provide finance to emerging farmers
* Provide an enabling environment for commercial agriculture to grow and prosper

3. Increase agricultural production

Government and sector partners:
* Develop rescue/recovery plans for existing struggling projects and commercialise livestock already in the hands of black communities
* Provide targeted support in the form of seeds, fertiliser and mechanisation to developing farmers
* Implement the African Green Revolution through a focus on agricultural green corridors targeting hotspots of evictions, farm workers and farm dwellers

4. Increase agricultural trade

Government, farmer and commodity organisations, state owned enterprises:
* Establish a committee to ensure representation and participation of emerging farmers in the standards setting bodies for regulatory issues
* Facilitate training and exposure of farmers around maximum residue level issues
* Capacitate farmers with an understanding of plant and animal diseases and the concomitant regulatory environment

5. Provide universal access to support services to target groups

Government, commodity and farmer organizations, agribusinesses
* Critically examine all aspects of coordinating support services to emerging farmers and implement new models to harness their development through the value chain
* Develop a programme on the best utilisation of mentors to supplement existing advisory and extension services
* Strengthen technical assistance and capacity building programmes including exchange visits, skills, and competency training among agriculture and rural development facilitators through co-operation between government and the private sector.
* Ensure adequate availability of young professional rural extension workers and creation of knowledge centres in rural areas.
* Supplement government extension services with partnership arrangements with commodity organisations and agribusinesses, which can also provide specialised extension services.

Implementation

1. An inclusive structure at national, provincial and local level to be established along with due processes to launch projects where the progress towards increased agriculture production and the alleviation of poverty can be measured.

2. The Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to appoint a steering committee to:
* Engage all stakeholders at local municipality and district level, provincial and national level in the development of the Plan of Action for the implementation of these resolutions within three months of the adoption of this declaration
* Facilitate implementation of the Plan of Action
* Set up a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the purpose of the implementation of these resolutions.

We declare that we remain fully committed to the realisation of the aspirations of all stakeholders in agriculture as reflected in this Declaration. We will continue to work together in the coming years to mobilise political and financial resources and to establish enduring procedures nationally to monitor the implementation of the Declaration.

We further call upon other government departments critical to the realisation of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme in South Africa, such as, the Department of Water Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, National Treasury and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to support the implementation of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme to achieve Sustainable Food Security, Jobs and Wealth Creation through Agriculture.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
1 August 2008
Source: Department of Agriculture (http://www.nda.agric.za)