Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Annette Steyn MP, during the Budget Vote on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Chairperson,
I dedicate this budget speech to our farmers and farm workers who are working tirelessly to put food on our tables.
According to a report by UNICEF, every year, 75 000 children in South Africa die before their fifth birthday.
The same report also found that malnutrition contributes to 64% of all deaths in children under the age of five.
This is a shocking statistic in a country where we have national food security.
It is, therefore, necessary to scrutinise the role that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is playing in all of this.
The budget allocation of DAFF is R6.8 billion. This is a slight increase of R292 million from the 2016/17 financial year.
With this budget DAFF’s focus is on improving food security, creating decent jobs and sustainably increasing the contribution of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This Department is, unfortunately, failing in meeting all of these targets and it has no credible plan to turn this lack of progress around.
Firstly, the allocated budget to the Department is only 0.01% of the national budget. Which indicates that government is not taking these industries seriously, and that DAFF has not been able to confidently show why National Treasury must provide it with more funding.
Chairperson, when looking at the Department’s strategic plan it becomes clear why Treasury does not allocate more funding to it.
Some of the Department’s Strategic Objectives do not have planned targets – in some cases the target is set as planning.
Transfers and subsidies make up 56% of DAFF’s budget to provinces and municipalities, with little or no monitoring or evaluation of these funds taking place. This notwithstanding an amount of R60 million that was reportedly put aside for the medium term period beginning in 2016/17.
During his State of the Nation Address this year, President Zuma announced that “government will implement a commercialisation support programme for 450 black smallholder farmers”. The committee found no clear plan on how the Department would achieve this.
With R5.5 billion allocated to support smallholder farmers over the next three years, the focus needs to shift from the number of people helped, to the outcomes achieved. At this stage reporting is done on budget spent and not on improvement of livelihoods.
These are only some of the few examples why the Democratic Alliance does not think that this Department has what it takes to grow our agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors into the strong role players they could be and which we need to improve our economy.
With the almost stagnant growth of our country’s economy, agriculture could play a massive role in creating much-needed jobs.
Dit maak die DA ook onrustig dat opruiende politieke uitsprake gemaak word wat verdere beleggings in die landbousektor strem.
Dan is daar ook die huidige droogte, wat slegs gedeeltelik gebreek is, wat ons landbousektor onder groot finansiële druk geplaas het.
Dit word bereken dat die totale landbouskuld nou R144 miljard beloop en dat landbouers versigtig is om verdere beleggings in die sektor te maak as gevolg van groot beleidsonsekerheid.
Our sector needs all the support it can get, to not only feed 55 million South Africans, but to still be able to export and assist with food security internationally.
Although the contribution of the agricultural sector to South Africa’s GDP has decreased from 9.1% in 1965, to around 2.4% currently, the significance of agriculture is enhanced by its large linkages with other sectors.
This means that growth in agriculture can contribute to the much-needed growth in other sectors of the economy.
A DA-led government will focus on recognising the role that agriculture plays in our economy and take active steps to create an enabling environment for agricultural growth, by: Increasing the budget for agriculture and land reform and
- Increasing the budget for agriculture and land reform and
- Partnering with the private sector in order to facilitate the expansion of agricultural production of the potentially arable soil on communal land in the high rainfall areas of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga – in order for it to be brought into full production.
A DA national government will establish policy certainty in this sector that is, by its very nature, characterised by uncertainty.
While the ANC government is intending to introduce legislation and regulations that will destroy the value of land, potentially ruin our financial sector and drive away internal and external investment, the DA’s proposals are focused on strengthening land rights and providing title deeds to black farmers and homeowners in order to ensure that they are a part of the economy.
The DA would invest in training and education for agriculture.
It is sad to see the state of our agricultural colleges. Many of them are poorly maintained and their infrastructure is deteriorating.
Agricultural development support, or agricultural extension services, focussing on developing the skills base of farmers and providing technical support, has been shown across the world to significantly raise the extent of land use and to increase output and income.
Our extension support has all but collapsed and farmers are left to fend for themselves. This especially has a massive impact on our small scale farmers.
A DA-led national government will expand investment in research and development for agriculture.
While other countries are increasing their budgets on agricultural research and development, our budget decreases on a year by year basis.
It was noted that the Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) budget cut will also impact the completion of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) Vaccine Production Facility, which is expected to play a significant role in the prevention of Foot and Mouth Disease.
The DA will provide and effectively implement a disaster risk management system for agriculture.
The government’s responses to the drought have been slow, sporadic and badly targeted with concerns of corruption and mismanagement of funds during this extremely difficult period. With predictions that El Niño weather patterns and climate change are likely to increase the severity and incidence of drought in South Africa – we must prioritise the development of agricultural response to climate change.
We will have to rethink farming and agricultural relief when the sector is vulnerable to crises, which includes drought, political and economic crises.
And finally, a DA-led government will prioritise to the safety of our rural communities and their property.
Farm attacks must be classified as priority crime in order for more resources to be allocated to Rural Safety Units, currently the South African Police Services (SAPS) is under-resourced and the Rural Safety Strategy is not properly implemented.
South African farmers are recognised as part of the best in the world and are ensuring food security under extremely difficult circumstances. Access to food is a basic human right and with an ever growing population, it puts massive strain on our farming communities to ensure that food is easily accessible, safe and affordable to everyone.
Thus, when the DA comes into power in 2019, we will show every South African the kind of country we can build together – one which is safe and prosperous for all.
I thank you.