People's Assembly

NW4439E - 16 October 2015

Deidre Carter to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

(1) Whether the Government is taking proactive steps to deal with water shortages in all of the provinces afflicted by drought so that farmers can continue their operations by using the limited supplies in the best manner possible; (2) whether water recycling was occurring optimally in the specified and other provinces to allow for food production to take place with the greatest availability of water that technology can make possible; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) whether he will make a statement on how the extraction of water from aquifers is managed scientifically and through regulatory means?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 16 Oct 2015

The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) continues to monitor conditions in the provinces and issue updated early warning information/ advisory information to the sector which includes strategies to implement during dry conditions. Such strategies include:

Usage of grey water especially in food gardens.
Harvesting water during rainy days.
Irrigating in the late afternoon/ early evening to reduce evaporation.
Using drip irrigation instead ...

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2015-w3299 - 05 October 2015

Mogamad Nazier Paulsen to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

(1) (a) (i) What total amount did his department spend on his travel costs between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year and (ii) how many trips did he undertake between Cape Town and Gauteng in the specified financial year and (b) what total amount did his department spend on (i) hotel and (ii) residential or other accommodation for him in (aa) Cape Town and (bb) Pretoria in the 2014-15 financial year; (2) (a)(i) what total amount did his department spend on the Deputy Minister’s travel costs between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year and (ii) how many trips between Gauteng and Cape Town did the Deputy Minister undertake in the specified financial year and (b) what total amount did his department spend on (i) hotel and (ii) residential or other accommodation for the Deputy Minister in (aa) Cape Town and (bb) Pretoria in the 2014-15 financial year? NW3907E

2015-w3464 - 02 October 2015

Annette Steyn to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

1. Whether his department has been involved in any projects in the Tsolwana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape since 2009; if so, (a) on which farms, (b) what total amount has been spent on each farm, (c) what was the money spent on in each case and (d) who was the service provider in each case? NW4125E

NW4290E - 18 September 2015

Arron Cecil Steyn to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

(1) What support has his department given to persons living on state-owned land in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality, in the Eastern Cape, since 2009; (2) how many persons are the beneficiaries of such support; (3) what has been the total cost of this support?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 18 Sep 2015

TO MS A STEYN (DA) TO THE MINISTER OF

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

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NW4207E - 18 September 2015

Mogamad Nazier Paulsen to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

With regard to the announcement by his department that the 24 Aquaculture projects under the Operation Phakisa have to be implemented by 2019, (a) how many of these projects will be implemented in 2015 and (b) what are the relevant details of the specified projects?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 18 Sep 2015

a) The 24 catalyst projects are the original projects identified during the Operation Phakisa Aquaculture LAB phase held in Durban during July and August 2014. Twenty of these projects have started their implementation.

b) An overview of the 24 Operation Phakisa Catalyst Projects are provided in the table below.

Initiative	Name	Species	Location	Province	Expansion or new
1a	Expansion-Venteresdorp- Catfish	Catfish	Ventersdorp	North West	new ...

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NW4204E - 18 September 2015

Mogamad Nazier Paulsen to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

What assistance is his department offering emerging farmers who have been hit hard by drought particularly in the North West?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 18 Sep 2015

TO MR N PAULSEN (EFF) ASKED TO THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

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2015-w3268 - 16 September 2015

Mogamad Nazier Paulsen to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

(1) What (a) total amount did his department spend on air travel between Gauteng and Cape Town for employees attending Parliament business in the 2014-15 financial year and (b) is the total number of trips that were undertaken; (2) What is the total amount that his department spent on (a) accommodation and (b) car rental in Cape Town for employees attending Parliament business in the specified financial year?

NW4125E - 11 September 2015

Arron Cecil Steyn to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Whether his department has been involved in any projects in the Tsolwana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape since 2009; if so, (a) on which farms, (b) what total amount has been spent on each farm, (c) what was the money spent on in each case and (d) who was the service provider in each case?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 11 Sep 2015

The table below illustrate the projects that were supported by the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian reform using both CASP conditional grant and equitable share from 2009 to 2015.

Year	Project Name	LM	Ward	Fund source	Amount spent	SERVICE PROVIDER	Ownership	Type of infrastructure
2009	Thembalethu Shearing Shed	Tsolwana	3	CASP	R 478 126.00	A. Smiles builders	Communal	Shearing shed constructed ...

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NW4073E - 11 September 2015

Narend Singh to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Whether, with reference to the reply by the Minister of Environmental Affairs to question 2808 on 24 August 2015 and given the large-scale exploitation of the Blacktip Shark, Bronze Whaler Shark and Dusky Shark in South Africa’s fishing waters and the lack of scientific research available on the sustainability of the specified species, he will consider granting protection in the interim through regulation that the specified species may not be caught or landed within all marine protected areas along the South African coastline?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 11 Sep 2015

Answer tabled in Parliament on:

DAFF'S RESPONSE:

Requiem sharks (common name for all the Carcharhinus species) such as the bronze whaler shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus), dusky shark (C. obscurus) and blacktip shark (C. limbatus/melanopterus) are caught as by-catch or targeted in a suite of fisheries, including the commercial linefishery, demersal shark longline fishery, pelagic longline fishery, bather protection programme, recreational linefishery, beach seine and gill ...

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2015-w2792 - 08 September 2015

Deidre Carter to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Whether the Government has developed or was developing a policy and funding plan to allow the country’s rural population to have access to biodigesters in order to create biogas for domestic cooking and electricity purposes as is happening in India and/or to stimulate large-scale production of purified biogas for fuel as in China; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the relevant details of the biogas initiatives in the country that are led by the Government and (b) how extensive is the roll-out of the specified initiatives in the country’s rural population?

Reply from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on 8 Sep 2015

(a) What are the relevant details of the biogas initiatives in the country that are led by the Government?

The Department and the ARC completed a pilot phase of the Biodigester project in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District (Free State province) that started in June 2012 and just concluded in June 2015 as part of the mitigation and adaptation to climate variability and change in ...

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