DAFFOfficial newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

January 2019

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The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries announced its plan for a project that collects data on farmers in the country at a media briefing in November in Cape Town.

In his brief to the media, Minister Zokwana said the department would be assisted by Statistics South Africa as a service provider with expertise on the establishment of the Producer/Farmer Register.

The project is expected to run from 2018 to 2021 collecting statistics of commercial and non-commercial farm-ers. The statistics on commercial farm-ers will be collected through a Census of Commercial Agriculture and statis-tics on non-commercial farmers will be collected through the Producer/Farmer Register. This two-phased project has been endorsed and supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“While the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will collect data on non-commercial farmers, Statistics SA is collecting data on commercial ag-riculture on behalf of the department,” Zokwana said.

He said the register is important “to have quantified information that says how many farmers are involved in one commodity, and where they are placed? So that we can be able to even plan our

By Jamela Nkanyane

own resources in terms of assistance. You have scientific record of what is the number of farmers who are involved in agriculture, both commercial and non-commercial. It is very important be-cause we cannot plan properly without knowing whom are we planning for.”

Industry stakeholders, including the department’s entities, farmers associa-tions and unions who are in support of the project, attended the media briefing.

Executive Director at the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa, Pitso Sekhoto said, “I think from the last four, five years we have been struggling for the government to do what it has done today. We as AFASA are very much excited and we are supporting this initiative because it is actually going to help us identify our members, grade our members so that

Ms Ellen Matsei, Director: Agricultural Statistics, present as DAFF re-sponds to questions from the media during a briefing on the Farmer Reg-ister in Cape Town.

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at least we know who’s who in the zoo. At the moment we don’t know because each and every person claims to be a farmer.”

Sekhoto further added that the level of emerging farmers is more critical in terms of development and that the reg-ister will help to place on record how many farmers can move to the next level at a certain period.

General Secretary of the Food and Al-lied Workers Union, Katishi Masemola said, “This initiative will basically help us get what we call quality information as a union in order to be able to organise workers much better. To understand the terrain, to know who are the [role] play-ers and sizes of the players in question; so that we can refresh strategies of or-

Editor PiweMbiko (012)3196936 piwem@daff.gov.zaSubeditor LeratoMofokeng (012)3197927 leratomof@daff.gov.zaReporters SamuelKgatla (012)3197181 samuelk@daff.gov.za InnocentMhlanga (012)3197827 innocentm@daff.gov.za RonyMoremi (012)3196622 rincertm@daff.gov.za JamelaNkanyane (012)3196903 jamelan@daff.gov.za MerciaSmith (012)3196666 mercias@daff.gov.zaInterns WalterMaja (012)3197819 maeselam@daff.gov.za DineoRasekhule (012)3196958 dineor@daff.gov.zaDistribution SheilaFlockton (012)3197141 sheilaf@daff.gov.zaWebsite:www.daff.gov.za

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ganising.”The establishment of the Producer/

Farmer Register for South Africa is go-ing to address certain areas in the ag-riculture, forestry and fisheries sectors while contributing to economic growth. It will improve the inaccurate and misrep-resented statistics of smallholder farm-ers; provide a basis from which the per-formance of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors can be measured in the non-commercial sector. The register should enable development of indica-tors in line with the Medium Term Strate-gic Framework and the National Devel-opment plan. It will assist to accurately identify smallholder farmers in terms of their geographic location and farming activities, and establish an up-to-date frame of reference for conduction sec-

Establishment of the Producer/Farmer Register

tor surveys in the country. Through the register, it will be easier to track the im-pact of support amongst beneficiaries in the sector and the development of strategies to help producers overcome challenges related to natural and un-natural disasters. Lastly, the register will account for beneficiaries in agriculture who are entitled to support services.

“I want to appeal to all our smallholder producers and farmers to register during this process. Our Extension Officers will be approaching Smallholder Producers and Farmers and I am urging them to open their gates to allow this project to succeed”, Zokwana said.

“We want to emphasise that this regis-tration project has no link to the current discourse around expropriation of land without compensation”, he added.

Minister Zokwana, MEC Mthembu and DG Mlengana supported by DAFF officials at the announcement of the Farmer Register in Cape Town.

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Data collection for the Census of Commercial Agriculture (CoCA) 2017 commenced in October. Sta-tistics South Africa (Stats SA) has embarked on a full-scale census of commercial agriculture funded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). The agricultural census will cover com-mercial farmers, i.e. all farming units registered for value added tax (VAT) or income tax.

Farmers are encouraged to answer all questions that will be asked by Stats SA Survey Officers (SOs), who will ad-minister the questionnaire using an electronic device, i.e. tablet.

All our SOs have an official identifi-cation card (ID) with their image and the Stats SA logo printed on it. Further-more, the vehicles used also has the Stats SA logo. Stats SA is concerned about the safety of the SOs as well as respondents. The organisation has put in place a verification system where farmers can verify the SOs on http://coca.statssa.gov.za/.

The system has images with names

Census of Commercial Agriculture still underway

and surnames of all SOs in all provinc-es as well as districts. This will ensure that farmers know which SOs will be working in their area, and that they will be able to validate the authenticity of the SO working in their farming unit.

Did you know?• COCA 2017 covers financial in-

formation on the financial year between 01 March 2017 and 28 February 2018.

• Information collected assists the government with policy formula-tion, decision-making and monitor-ing the performance of the agricul-tural sector.

• The data is collected across all nine (9) provinces.

• Questionnaires are available in both English and Afrikaans.

• The previous Census of Agricul-ture was conducted in 2007 (Sta-tistical release P1101).

• Prior to that, Stats SA conducted an Agriculture Census in 2002.

Key results: 2007 and 2002

What are the most common types of animals found on South African farms? According to the Census of Commer-cial Agriculture report for 2007, chick-ens (specifically, laying hens) were the most numerous, numbering 27,4 mil-lion.

Chickens were followed by sheep (11,8 million), cattle (5,3 million), pigs (0,9 million) and goats (0,9 million). The census counted a total of 20 520 horses nationwide. The farming sector generated R10,1 billion in income from animal products in 2007, which was a 6,7% yearly rise from the R7,3 billion recorded in 2002.

The most widely produced crops in 2007 were sugar cane (16,6 mil-lion metric tons), maize (7,4 million metric tons) and potatoes (1,8 mil-lion metric tons). Grape production, mostly focused in the Western Cape, totalled 1,5 million metric tonnes. The production of agricultural products often requires extensive labour. The agriculture industry employed almost 771 000 people in 2007, a fall from the 940 820 people employed in 2002.

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The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries Minister, Sen-zeni Zokwana, engaged fishers of Port St. Johns on a fisheries Imbizo on 14 December 2018. The Imbizo took place at Port St. Johns (PSJ) Golf Club. The fishing community was given an opportunity to interact with the Minister on many fisheries issues affecting them.

The Minister’s Imbizo took place dur-ing the important month of the com-memoration of Madiba’s death. Some of the fishers’ concerns include littering in the sea; lack of fishing processing plants; big companies using abnormal tactics to catch fish; lack of harbours; cleaning of the sea; fishing pack hous-es; a need for a nursery in PSJ; lack

of fishing equipment and other things. Port St. Johns has been a focus of

Operation Phakisa (harbour develop-ment in the area) and the local mu-nicipality together with the OR Tambo District Municipality promised to work with DAFF on fisheries programmes to assist their fishing communities.

On behalf of the OR Tambo District, Mayor Mr Fezile Bhengu said PSJ was supposed to be the best among other towns because of the tea factory that they have but that didn’t happen. Moreover, he continued that they have oceans to fish but that doesn’t benefit the locals and also mentioned that PSJ remains underdeveloped because it is ignored.

The Minister said that the govern-

ment will continue to work with fishers in coastal areas. “Our fishers are being used and paid for the fish they catch from the sea. The government will give the communities fishing rights. Fish farming or aquaculture is important. Fishing cooperatives must stand to-gether. You will get the fishing rights. I am urging you to work with Govern-ment so that we can help you,” he said.

Minister Zokwana also allocated fish-ing rights to many fishing cooperatives to fish without problems.

Furthermore, the Minister asked the Senior Management Staff of the de-partment to commit on how it is going to help the people of PSJ. The fishers were advised to use the local fisheries office in PSJ.

Minister Zokwana listens to fishers of Port St Johns

By Samuel Kgatla

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Hon-ourable Sfiso Buthelezi and the MEC for the Department of Rural, Environ-ment and Agricultural Development (READ) in the province successfully launched the fourth Bokone Bophiri-ma Agricultural Growth and Invest-ment Show (BBAGIS) on 20 Novem-ber. The four-day annual event was held at the Kgora Farmer Training Centre at Ramatlabama in the North West Province.

The show serves as a platform for the government to engage with entre-preneurs, farmers, agricultural experts and students on how to further grow the province’s agricultural sector. The great success of the first show in 2015 has enabled the department to showcase its various expertises from research, veterinary, training and many others.

The show continues to grow yearly and over 100 exhibitors showcased at the 2018 BBAGIS.

Prior to the event, both the Deputy Minister and MEC handed over food parcels to the needy ten households of Ramatlabama. The dignitaries also visited the viable Lebone Vegetable Project which is also at Ramatlabama. Lebone is run by the hardworking Ms Lebone Gertrude Lekena.

The MEC said they promote agricul-ture awareness and it gives the depart-ment a chance to showcase their prod-ucts during the BBAGIS.

“All the role players have done a splendid job for organising such a pres-tigious event. I hope that everyone is going to learn a lot from our exhibition centre. We need to empower those suf-fering. This event is significant in pro-moting public and private partnership. People need to come out here with the

changed positive minds and contribute in the agriculture. We must join hands and move forward because agriculture should be anyone’s business,” she said.

The Deputy Minister mentioned he was pleased to be part of the BBAGIS. He congratulated the READ for coming up with the concept of BBAGIS. “It’s an opportunity for everyone to learn from BBAGIS. I am very happy because I am deployed in the special industry called agriculture. All other industries rely on us in terms of food security. All other provinces should follow in the province’s trails with regard to the good work that you are doing in the agricultural sector,” he said. Moreover, the Deputy Minister has encouraged farmers and everyone to continue with the hard work and to make sure there is more production.

Bokone Bophirima has distinguished itself among other provinces with this concept of BBAGIS.

DM and MEC successfully launch the BBAGIS

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The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries hosted a feed-back Imbizo at Jozini on Friday 30 November 2018 at Emasosheni Sports Ground, Jozini Local Munici-pality. The purpose of the follow-up Imbizo was to give status on the progress and development since the Deputy Minister, Honourable Sfiso Buthelezi, visited the area in July this year.

The Imbizo comes after Deputy Minister Buthelezi promised to do a follow-up visit where he will focus on the progress made. The Imbizo activi-ties, which are aligned to the National Development Plan and outlined in the Medium Term Strategic Framework 2014 to 2019, are undertaken to build a better South Africa.

Some of the questions asked during the follow up Imbizo include forestry, especially small growers that are not well taken care of, lack of fencing, shortage of seeds and market access.

The mayor of Umkhanyakude Mu-nicipality, Mr Solomon Mkhombo, men-tioned that the issue of market access is having limitations and access for black people is not easy. He said that they need to work together and as-sured citizens that there is going to be feedlots in the district. Lastly, he said that the intention of Government is to turn Makhathini into a farming industry.

The Head of the Department of Agri-culture and Rural Development in KZN, Mr Sibusiso Myeza said that there is a lot they have done and they are still going to do more as the province. He assured those gathered at Emasosh-eni that there is hope because there has been progress since the Deputy Minister’s visit in July. He concluded that they are going to continue working well with the people of Umkhanyakude District Municipality.

On the behalf of the Deputy Minis-ter, Deputy Director-General for Policy,

DAFF hosted feedback Imbizo in Jozini

By Samuel Kgatla

Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at DAFF, Mr Joe Kgobokoe said the Dep-uty Minister has fulfilled his promise of coming back to Jozini. “The community raised a lot of issues relating to fenc-ing, mechanisation, grazing camps and others. The Deputy Minister mo-bilised the national and provincial de-partments support to the people of Jozini. Fencing for over 75 kilometres of uMkhanyakude has been targeted. There is going to be seven grazing

camps. The Deputy Minister is mobi-lising other departments such as Rural Development and Land Reform, Water and Sanitation, Trade and Industry and Small Businesses.

The Deputy Minister has thanked DAFF, KZNDARD and uMkhanyakude officials for hosting the successful event. As the official we will provide the Deputy Minister with the feedback of what we have seen,” concluded Kgobokoe.

DAFF Deputy Minister, Sfiso Buthelezi and other dignitaries arriving at Makhathini Cotton Farm.

DAFF Deputy Minister, Sfiso Buthelezi, Mr Mokutule Kgobokoe and Ms Elder Mtshiza visited Makhathini Cotton Farm.

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The Western Cape Bee Industry As-sociation (WCBA) organised a work-shop at the Buitenverwachting wine estate in the Constantia Valley near Cape Town on Friday 7 December to discuss the recent mass mortal-ity of bees in the district. Beekeep-ers, wine farmers, researchers from the Agricultural Research Council, members of the Directorate of Agri-culture Inputs Control’s Inspector-ate, the Cape Town Municipality and CropLife South Africa representa-tives and members attended the workshop. The objectives were to identify the cause of the bee deaths

and to agree on mitigation meas-ures to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring again.

Lars Maack, the owner of Buitenver-wachting wine estate who hosted the workshop, opened discussions by ex-pressing wine farmers’ concerns about the bee deaths and appealed for col-laboration in finding solutions to the problem. Brendan Ashley Cooper, a prominent beekeeper in the Western Cape, provided background to the re-cent events in which a large number of bees owned by various beekeepers in the area were killed by what was believed to be irresponsible pesticide

applications. Chemical analyses of a representative sample of the dead bees positively identified two insec-ticides, namely fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin. During the discussions it was confirmed that fipronil was used on vines in an effort to control ants by mixing it with molasses. Unfortunately, this is not an approved method for ant control in vines. In addition, two regis-tered ant control pesticides that con-tain a mixture of fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin were applied, mixed with sugar.

Farmers, beekeepers, CropLife South Africa and researchers take hands to ensure better life for honey bees

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The workshop attendees agreed that the use of any sugar-based lures, including molasses, was the reason for bees being attracted to the ant baits. Representatives of the regis-tration holder of the two fipronil plus lambda-cyhalothrin products assured the workshop that using the products without sugar will successfully con-trol ants and the products are regis-tered for straight application without any bait attractant. Delegates agreed to be vigilant about the illegal use of fipronil with molasses and ensure that the registered pesticide mixtures with fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin shall only be used without an attractant bait.

The wine farmers of the Constan-tia Valley have already made great strides with integrated pest manage-ment. Distributors of plant protection products and wine farmers are in-corporating biological pest manage-ment into vineyard pest management with great success. For example, the huge challenges posed by mealybug is already something of the past for most of the valley’s wine producers

due to the successful deployment of biological control. Ants do however, upset these efforts by fighting off bio-logical organisms that are used for the control of mealybug, hence an ant control mechanism is required. All parties agreed that the two regis-tered fipronil plus lambda-cyhalothrin pesticides can be used effectively for this purpose. The insecticides are ap-plied to the base of the vine trunk and keeps ants off the main parts of the vine. Ants play a very important role in the agricultural ecology and therefore none of the stakeholders want a situ-ation where ant nests are complete-ly destroyed, but rather strive for a mechanism where ants are kept away from the productive parts of vines.

This model of collaboration among multiple stakeholders needs to be perfected in the Constantia Valley and then rolled out to other parts of South Africa where bees are also at risk of unnecessary pesticide impacts. Crop-Life South Africa undertook to steer the process with the assistance of the beekeepers, the wine farmers, the re-search institutes and the Department of Agriculture, which form part of the

CropLife South Africa’s Pollinator Fo-rum objectives. In addition, a Pollina-tor Charter was developed between CropLife South Africa, SABIO and or-ganised agriculture, including AgriSA, Hortgro, GrainSA, SANSOR, Subtrop and the CRI, to highlight the respon-sibilities of all parties to ensure bee health.

The plant science industry has made a commitment to implement appropriate measures to ensure the survival and proliferation of pollina-tors. Working with beekeepers and farmers is paramount to the success-ful achievement of this commitment. CropLife South Africa is also conduct-ing a review of labels of insecticides that may pose a risk to bees in order to ensure that appropriate bee safety measures are incorporated on to all product labels.

For further information, please contact:Name: Elriza TheronPosition: Marketing and Communica-tions ManagerCropLife South AfricaTel: 072 443 3067Email: elriza@croplife.co.za

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The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries (DAFF) held the Regional World Food Day Com-memoration with the citizens of Namibia in Bunya Village in the Ka-vango West Region on 30 October 2018. The event was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, the Na-mibian Minister of Agriculture, Wa-ter and Forestry Alpheus !Naruseb, governors of the 14 regions in Na-mibia as well as guests from other international communities.

The Regional World Food Day follows a call by SADC Ministers of Agriculture that the country that becomes the chair of SADC must commemorate World Food Day, South Africa as the previ-ous chair of SADC was tasked with the responsibility of assisting Namibia, the current chair of SADC with World Food Day Commemoration. The World Food Day was observed under the theme, “Our actions are our future. # A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is possible.”

During his keynote address, The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana said apart from rolling out the World Food Day model, South Africa has also been requested to lead the research work for controlling the Fall Armyworm by developing the regional control model, draft a Charter for the establishment of the SADC Regional Fisheries Monitor-ing Control and Surveillance Coordina-tion Centre (MCSCC). He added that some work has already started. He also encouraged Namibia as the cur-rent chair of SADC to pursue the three projects earnestly.

In defining the South African context of the World Food Day, the Minister said that World Food Day is made pos-sible through partnerships between government, non-governmental organ-isations and sponsorships from both business and industry. He encouraged

DAFF shares the South African World Food Day model with Namibia By Rony Moremi

the Namibian government to also form partnerships and ensure that all aware of the World Food Day. “Although the event is commemorated once a year, it should be an everyday event as food is required on a daily basis”, he said.

He said that 29,4 million People in the SADC region are food insecure, which makes investing in agriculture more fundamental to eradicating pov-erty. Furthermore, 70% of the region’s population depends on agriculture for food, income and employment.

South Africa, through DAFF has been commemorating World Food Day for the past 15 years without fail since its return as a member of the United Nations. DAFF shared with Namibia the model that has been used to coun-ter hunger and malnutrition such as legacy projects, where the Minister selects food insecure households and

agricultural projects are identified and supplied with agricultural inputs and training in order to promote agriculture as a sustainable way of making a liv-ing. A food mountain (a method used to gather non-perishable food items to be distributed to poor households- as well as profiling of household used to ensure that gathered food are to be distributed to deserving households). The Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF) com-mitted to assist selected agricultural projects in Bunya village with exten-sion services support to link the farm-ers with local agricultural agencies for training. The ministry also pledged to support the projects with funding and subsidies for agricultural production. Three indigent households of Bunya village were supported with food ham-pers and fruit trees.

Mr Senzeni Zokwana, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Land Affairs attended World Food Day at Bunya Village in Namibia.

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“It takes 1 000 years to form 1 cm of top soil but it has only taken few years to lose 33% of the planet’s top soil,” said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unit-ed Nations (FAO). He was speaking on World Soil Day on 5 December 2018.

The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries (DAFF) through the Directorate: Land Use and Soil Management as the focal point of soil resource and the Institute for Soil, Climate and Water of the Agricultural Research Council hosted the semi-nar to mark World Soil Day under the theme of “Be the Solution to Soil Pol-lution.”

World Soil Day was designated by the General Assembly of the United Nation’s 68th Session Second Com-mittee Agenda item 25 on agriculture development, food security and nu-trition on 13 October 2013 to be ob-served and celebrated every year on 5 December all over the world by all Member States, the organisations of the United Nations system and other international and regional organisa-tions, civil society, non-governmental organisations and individuals to em-phasise the importance of soil.

Klaas Mampholo from the Direc-torate: Land Use and Soil Manage-

ment (LUSM), who also represents South Africa at the Global Soil Part-nership (GSP), said his directorate is responsible for the management of soil in the country. A World’s Soil Re-source Report identified soil pollution as among ten soil threats, therefore, this year GSP dedicated this topic through a technical symposium and as the mantra for celebration of world soil day. “We need to be aware of the causes of soil pollution so that we can create and implement solutions. Soil protection and conservation starts with us. Soil pollution affects food security by reducing crop yields and quality. Safe, nutritious and good quality food can only be produced if our soils are healthy. Soil pollu-tion is invisible,” said Klaas. Today, one third of our soils are moderately or highly degraded due to erosion, loss of soil organic carbon, salinisa-tion, compaction, acidification and chemical pollution. He added that the seminar would help to come with so-lutions that will be used to avoid and manage this problem and share with Global Soil Partnership in Rome and worldwide.

Presentations at the seminar fo-cussed on pollution, degradation, use of industrial mechanisation and stock piling from coal mines. Dr Gary Pa-terson from ARC presented on prob-

lems with stockpiling in coal mines. He said poor stockpiling in coal mines leads to expensive soil rehabilitation. He advised that to avoid expensive soil rehabilitation costs later, mines should adhere to a pre-mining soil survey and restrict stockpile height to decrease compaction and that the time for keeping the stock pile must be minimised. Adolph Malatji from DAFF’s LUSM directorate presented a paper on the study on Delineation of Site-Specific Management zones

Dr Johan Van der Waals from Terra Soil Science said water plays a huge role in soil degradation: the decline in soil conditions. He added that it’s im-portant to understand the soil and the contexts of the soil.

Soil pollution can be a result of poor agricultural practices, such as unsus-tainable agricultural practices reduc-ing soil organic matter, compromising soils’ capacity to break down organic pollutants. This increases the risk of the pollutants being released into the environment. Sustainable agricultural production practices such as Con-servation Agriculture have therefore become imperative for reversing the trend of soil degradation and ensur-ing current and future food security.

Did you know that, most well-known antibiotics, including penicillin, origi-nated from soil microorganisms?

Be the Solution to Soil Pollution

By Rony Moremi

January 2019 DAFFnews No. 1 10

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The Portfolio Committee on Agri-culture, Forestry and Fisheries em-barked on an oversight visit to Free State Province from 13 to 17 Au-gust. The oversight visit was con-ducted during Women’s Month in the country.

They visited district and local mu-nicipalities as part of the oversight visit programme. The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries continues to monitor farmers to ensure that what they are told in reports cor-responds with the work on the ground.

Tsokolibane Farm was one of the visited projects. It is owned by pas-sionate farmer Mr Job Tsokolibane who works with his 10 family mem-bers. He is the one who manages the farm and runs everything. He told the committee members that at the time of the handover of the farm there was an agreement with a mining company to supply drinking water to the farm. The mining company has since reneged on this agreement, result-ing in loss of livestock and crops due to the underground water having been contami-nated by the mining company.

“To become a suc-cessful commercial farmer I’d really need water. Outside of four permanent workers, I occasionally hire up to 60 seasonal workers per annum. What is good about me is that I also give my workers bonus when there is a profit. I started lik-ing agriculture while still young. Farming is a business and you

have to be wise by making money. I am glad that Parliament has visited my farm and promised to assist me so that I can become commercial farmer,” he said.

Other projects visited as part of the weeklong oversight include Balemi Co-operative (crop and livestock), Khumo Trust Feedlot (mix farming), Wood-bridge Irrigation Scheme, Wilhemina Kabelo Cooperative (peaches, cher-ries and apples), Black Survival Fish Project, Vrede Dairy Project, Fezile Dabi Fish Farming, Motsumi Meadows (vegetable production), Zeebruggie (crop and livestock) and Mr Mpembe Farm (crop and livestock).

The Portfolio Committee members under the leadership of chairperson, Ms Rosina Semenya were satisfied with most of the projects they visited. However, they were a bit dissatis-

Portfolio Committee on Agriculture takes oversight visit to Free State Province

By Samuel Kgatla

fied with the progress made on fish projects after millions of money was invested on them.

The chairperson encouraged farm-ers to continue working with their chil-dren on the farms to make sure that there is a succession plan. “Farming needs skills transfer and it makes me happy to see some farmers already practising it. Public servants need to work with farmers closely and they need to serve them. There must be smooth communication between farm-ers, communities and the department on the projects the government is in-volved in,” concluded Semenya.

Challenges facing farmers in the province include; fencing, high cost of electricity and diesel, unavailability of tractors when needed, stock theft, and shortage of electricity supply on some farms and others.

Portfolio Committee members of DAFF and government officials during the oversight visit to Free State Province.

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The Parliament’s Portfolio Com-mittee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries members were impressed by the work produced by some hardworking farmers in Free State Province. This was discovered dur-ing the oversight visit that took place from 13 to 17 August in the province.

Members were excited to see how passionate farmers such as Khumo Farm and Motsumi Meadows are do-ing on their farms.

The committee visited Khumo Farm owned by Robert Thekiso and his sons. He is a semi-commercial farmer, who supplies the local butcheries with beef and plants 95 hectares of maize for feed. The farm was bought in 1998 through a loan from the Land Bank, which has been paid off. Furthermore, the farm re-ceived assistance from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the provincial Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, and is a suc-cess. Together with his children, Thekiso works on the farm breeding cat-tle, sheep and chickens. He grows his own feed for his animals, but the re-cent drought has made the growing of maize and sun-flower seeds for the feed-lots difficult.

Born in 1952, in the Bof-ulo area near Thaba ’Nchu, Robert watched over his family’s cattle as a boy. In 1973, he left for nearby Bloemfontein to take up a job as an electrician with the old South African Rail-ways. His wages enabled him to begin building a small herd of cattle back in

Bofulo.Likewise, the committee members

were impressed with the management and maintenance of the Motsumi farm. Motsumi is managed and owned by Dikeledi Motsumi with her three sons. The farm received assistance from the DAFF in 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, and has proven that given the resourc-es and support, farmers can be suc-cessful and contribute to fight against hunger and South Africa’s food secu-rity.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Commit-tee, Ms Rosina Semenya said it was exciting to see a project like Motsumi

Portfolio Committee members impressed by passionate farmers

Meadows led by woman doing well. She continued that these are the kind of projects the department must sup-port because they are doing well.

“I am really happy to see that there are still passionate farmers who en-joy what they are doing. Members are glad to see Khumo Farm and Motsumi Meadows success. This is what we want to see as members of Parlia-ment,” she said.

Dikeledi Motsumi , owner of Motsumi Meadows said she was excited to see Parliament visiting her farm. She add-ed that she loves farming and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Ms Dikeledi Motsumi, Mr Thabo Meeko, Ms Patricia Chueu, Ms Rosina Semenya and Ms Annette Steyn were some of the visitors at Motsumi Meadows Farm.

By Samuel Kgatla

January 2019 DAFFnews No. 1 12

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It was important for the agricultural stakeholders to meet and further consult on the draft operational guidelines for the developmental fund just before the SADC Agri-cultural Development Fund could come into operation.

It is for this reason that stakehold-ers descended to Cape Town on the 26th of November 2018 for consulta-tions. The meeting was held as a way forward to the two-day African Agri in-vestment Indaba and Agri Trade Con-gress Africa 2018 organised by the African Agri Council of South Africa.

On behalf of the Director-General, Dr Motseki Hlatshwayo, who is sec-onded by the SADC Secretariat as lead in fisheries and aquaculture, the workshop was opened by elaborat-ing the importance of the ADF, which was approved for establishment by the SADC Council in August 2017 in South Africa. He also said the Agricul-tural Development Fund was designed as a financing instrument to provide stimulus in the form of incentives and investment in the SADC agriculture sector to leverage public and private sector financing into agriculture.

In essence, the ADF is intended to

SADC Agricultural Develop-ment Fund workshop

By Innocent Mhlanga

accelerate the implementation of the SADC Regional Agricultural invest-ment plan 2017–2022 at the Member States level.

The main purpose of the workshop was to inform or sensitise stakehold-ers and consult with them on the Agri-cultural Development Fund (ADF) op-erational guidelines and prepare them on how to access the ADF funds once it becomes operational. Furthermore, the workshop was to brief stakehold-ers in the agricultural sector in South Africa on the SADC Regional Agricul-tural Policy (RAP) and the Regional Agricultural Investment plan (RAIP).

South Africa became the fifth SADC Member State to be sensitised on the ADF operational guidelines. Mr Martin Muchero, the SADC RAP coordinator, facilitated the process. Malawi, Tan-zania and Madagascar went through the same process in May 2017 and Zimbabwe got their share of being in-formed in April 2018 as well. This will be followed by other SADC countries in the coming months.

By outlining the National Develop-ment Plan (NDP), Ms Rowena Joe-mat, Director for Policy Planning in the department says it is a crucial compo-

nent of South Africa ‘s Medium-Term Strategic Framework 2014–2019 for the attainment of, among other out-comes, employment through inclu-sive growth, rural development and food security and also protection of environmental assets and natural re-sources.

She said by using Operation Phaki-sa as a methodology and tool of plan-ning and implementation manage-ment in South Africa, the outcomes of the agriculture, land and rural devel-opment Operation Phakisa informed, South Africa’s Agriculture’s Policy Ac-tion plan (APAP) which contributes as one of the job and growth drivers for South Africa Furthermore, she also outlined the close alignment between South Africa’s APAP and SADC Re-gional Agricultural Policy.

In conclusion, the meeting came to an agreement to form an Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) Country Working Group that will work with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource (FANR) Directorate of the SADC Secretariat to further these consultations and get South Africa fully ready to access the ADF when it becomes operational.