Chairperson, the report is on Ncera Farms located in the Eastern Cape in an area called Kidd's Beach and its main purpose is to develop farmers in the surroundings of this centre. The Ncera Farm Centre has not been performing well for the past seven years. They have not been adhering to the prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA, and therefore, the farms that were allocated to 10 beneficiaries through land reform were not necessarily benefitting from the centre because of its inability to perform its tasks.
The Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries decided to visit the area this term precisely to meet the stakeholders and the people who are supposed to benefit from the Ncera Farms Centre. There was a good engagement between the committee and those people and as committee we agreed there were still conflicts within the area that stemmed from the allocation of state farms. This was the main concern that needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The communities and the farmers around Ncera welcomed the proposal of incorporation because that was the decision of the previous term's portfolio committee. They welcome the incorporation of the Ncera Service Centre to the Agricultural Research Council, which is based in Pretoria so that we have that centre incorporated into and servicing the whole of the Eastern Cape for as long as it is going to assist and benefit the surrounding communities.
There is a need for continued monitoring of progress on deregistration by the financial management of Ncera Farms by the department and the process of transferring the 10 farms to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. The verification of land claims against the entity will also hamper the productivity of the farms and therefore, needs to be fast- tracked to ensure that farmers are able to farm as they are not farming at the moment.
If I may start with the key recommendation, which was agreed to by those people who were supposed to benefit, the key recommendation is that the Ncera Centre must be incorporated into Agricultural Research Council, ARC, as I said in our observation, and then service the whole of the Eastern Cape. However, the department must reinforce the capacity of that centre to do proper research in the area of Ncera for the benefit of the Eastern Cape. There are many researchers in the Eastern Cape who can assist with the work in that area.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries should ensure that Ncera Farms are not closed, as I said, but deregistered, because there is confusion about people thinking that it would be closed when it is under the ARC.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries should ensure that the Ncera Service Centre continues to assist surrounding farmers and communities, including the Eastern Cape province, with livestock improvement and food production programmes. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the ARC, which must be given a budget, should develop a master plan that will inform the way that the ARC would incorporate the Ncera Service Centre within its livestock improvement programmes. The plan should include budget allocation, as I said, to the ARC that will assist the programmes for the benefit of the province.
I then table the report. I thank you Chair. [Time expired.] [Applause.]