Mr Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister and colleagues, man and beast need three basic elements to survive. The first two are - if not indiscriminately wasted and polluted - provided free and in abundance by the good Creator, namely air in the form of oxygen and water in the form of oxygen and hydrogen. The third man has to toil for, namely the food that the earth will produce with the sweat of his brow.
Mother Earth is the source of life, and for those who are prepared to till it, he who is prepared to sow will be allowed to reap. The people who work the land, be it in the form of sowing and reaping or the rearing of cattle, commonly known as farmers, are the providers of food.
The world economy, with its ever-growing population, is totally dependent on farming, which is the primary source of raw materials for the production of basic and sophisticated foodstuffs for humans and feedstuffs for animals, for the production of textiles from cotton and wool and for the production of plant oils and rubber.
As a matter of fact, the world would come to a standstill were it not for the farmers, big and small, or commercial farmers on the one extreme and subsistence farmers on the other. A country with a vision for the future will therefore cherish its farmers and farming communities by providing well for them in the resources that it makes available in its budget, in the realisation that one can only reap that which one has sown.
Daarom steun die Nuwe NP die begroting wat deur die agb Minister voorgel is.
Een van die Departement van Landbou se gestelde beleidsdoelwitte is 'n doeltreffende en internasionaal mededingende landbousektor wat die opkoms van 'n swart landbousektor onderskraag. Anders gestel: bo en behalwe eie binnelandse voedselbehoeftes wat bevredig moet word, moet die landbousektor ook produkte van 'n ho en aanvaarbare gehalte produseer wat met die wreld se beste op die internasionale mark kan meeding om sodoende belangrike valuta vir die land te verdien en te help om Suid-Afrika se betalingsbalans op 'n gesonde voet te hou. Kennis en ondervinding wat in die proses van groeiende doeltreffendheid en verbeterde mededingendheid opgebou en op internasionale vlak uitgeruil word, word met vrug in die opkomende swart landbousektor teruggeploeg.
Dit is om hierdie rede dat ek graag twee punte van bekommernis wil uitlig: eerstens, dat die begrotingstoewysing aan die Landbounavorsingsraad moontlik nie voldoende is nie. Sonder voldoende en doeltreffende landbounavorsing sal ons letterlik agteruit boer en nie internasionaal kan meeding nie. Dit sal 'n jammerlike dag wees as Suid-Afrika, wat as een van die voorste lande op landbounavorsingsgebied beskou word en sy kennis oor die jare ook aan die res van Afrika oorgedra het, nou weens onvoldoende fondse die agterste gestoeltes moet begin inneem of om die woorde van die Adjunkminister te gebruik, begin ``om aan die agterspeen te suig.'' Om die vrugte van 'n versiende beleid in die toekoms te pluk, moet die brood nou reeds in die vorm van 'n verhoogde navorsingsbegroting op die waters gewerp word.
Tweedens is dit vreemd dat die departement nie met meer, s maar entoesiasme, om dit sagkens te stel, sy produsente se belange by die Raad op Tariewe en Handel verdedig wanneer dit by die bepaling van invoerregte op produkte van landboukundige oorsprong kom nie.
Na verneem word, moet onder andere die suiwelbedryf en die produsente van plantaardige olies met een hand agter die rug vasgemaak teen die ingevoerde produkte baklei om te oorleef omdat die buitelandse produk weens landbousubsidies in verskeie vorme die speelveld totaal ongelyk maak en toegelaat word om teen onrealistiese lae tariewe die land te oorspoel.
Daar word erkenning gegee aan die beginsel dat voedsel op die mees ekonomiese manier aan die bevolking voorsien moet word en dat, indien die ingevoerde produk in daardie behoefte kan voorsien, daar daarvan gebruik gemaak moet word. So 'n situasie sal gewoonlik as 'n kopersmark bestempel word. Indien dit die rede vir lae invoertariewe is, sal 'n vroegtydige waarskuwing teen so 'n kortsigtige beleid nie onvanpas wees nie, naamlik dat, indien die plaaslike produsente vernietig word omdat hulle nie langer met die goedkoop gesubsidieerde ingevoerde produk kan meeding nie, die mark vir die besondere produk as gevolg van die beginsel van vraag en aanbod in 'n verkopersmark omskep sal word, en die prys van die oorwegend beskikbare, en in sommige gevalle die enigste beskikbare, ingevoerde produk uit die aard van die saak sal styg.
'n Mens besef egter dat invoertariewe die gevolg van internasionale ooreenkomste en onderhandelings is, maar jy wonder soms of dit werklik vir Suid-Afrika nodig is om, soos dit voorkom, altyd op die voorpunt by die nakoming van sulke ooreenkomste te wees. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[The New NP therefore supports the budget as submitted by the hon the Minister.
One of the Department of Agriculture's stated policy objectives is an efficient and internationally competitive agricultural sector which supports the emergence of a black agricultural sector. Differently stated: above and beyond own domestic food needs which have to be met, the agricultural sector must also produce products of a high and acceptable quality which can compete with the world's best on the international market and in this way earn valuable currency for the country and assist in keeping South Africa's balance of payments on a sound footing. Knowledge and experience which is accumulated in the process of increasing efficiency and improving competitiveness and which is exchanged at an international level is ploughed back into the emerging black agricultural sector fruitfully.
It is for this reason that I want to highlight two points of concern: firstly, that the budgetary allocation to the Agricultural Research Council may be insufficient. Without adequate and efficient agricultural research we will literally farm at a loss and not be able to compete internationally. It will be a sorry day if South Africa, which is considered one of the foremost countries with regard to agricultural research and has over the years also conveyed its expertise to the rest of Africa, now as a result of insufficient funding has to begin occupying the back benches or, to use the words of the Deputy Minister, begin ``om aan die agterspeen te suig'' [to draw the short end of the stick.] To reap the fruits of a far-sighted policy in future, the bread must now already be cast upon the waters in the form of an increased research budget.
Secondly, it is strange that the department does not defend its producers' interests with more, let us say enthusiasm, to put it mildly, with the Board on Tariffs and Trade when it comes to the determination of import rights on products of agricultural origin.
As it is understood, the dairy industry and the producers of vegetable oils have to battle with one hand tied behind their backs against the imported products in order to survive because the foreign products make the playing field totally uneven as a result of agricultural subsidies in various forms, and are allowed to flood the country at unrealistically low tariffs.
Recognition is given to the principle that food should be provided to the population in the most economical manner possible and that, if the imported product can meet that need it should be utilised. Such a situation would usually be labelled a buyer's market. If this is the reason for low import tariffs, an early warning against such a short-sighted policy would not be inappropriate, namely that, if the local producers are destroyed because they can no longer compete with the cheap subsidised imported product, the market for the product in question will be transformed into a seller's market as a result of the principle of supply and demand, and the price of the predominantly available, and in some cases the only available, imported product will naturally rise.
However, one realises that import tariffs are the result of international agreements and negotiations, but one sometimes wonders if it is really necessary for South Africa, as it would seem, always to be at the forefront of adherence to such agreements.] Land Affairs is the other leg of the Minister's portfolio. The basic reasons for the existence of Land Affairs are the redistribution of land, restitution, land tenure reform, state land management, etc.
In a policy statement of the Minister during February of this year, it was mentioned that the South African state is the major landowner in the country. Although this is a generally known fact, it was interesting to learn that the state owns approximately 32 million hectares, or approximately 25% of the total land surface. This total figure comprises land which is privately owned by the state, state-owned land which is leased mainly to white commercial farmers and companies and state-owned land which is settled or occupied by tribal groupings and communities.
Although the Government does not, according to the Minister's policy statement, have a coherent policy on state land disposal, it is admitted that the department is not favourably disposed towards the illegal occupation of unutilised land, and that it has not favourably responded to requests and demands by tribes and communities that state land, which has been occupied by them, be transferred to them as tribes and communities. I agree with the Minister that the people who should benefit from an organised and well-managed system of land distribution, and especially disposal of underutilised or unutilised state land, are the people who, through previous disadvantage suffered both socially and economically. The disposal of state land should be the key to the improvement of their quality of life. The New NP would therefore urge the Minister to do everything in her power to finalise the policy formulation in this regard and to speed up a well-organised and strategically managed system of sustainable land redistribution.
From the already mentioned figures it would appear that sufficient state- owned land is still available for this purpose. It is the more affordable option for making land available for redistribution. The buzz word should, however, be ``sustainability''.
In conclusion, I will briefly refer to restitution, which causes a great deal of uncertainty and concern to claimants and those landowners... [Time expired.] [Applause.]