Madam Speaker, hon members, in January this year Oxfam reported that "the 2007 and 2008 food price increases affected more than 850 million people. Even before the 2008 food riots, about 60 000 children were dying every day from hunger-related causes. Today, about one in six of the world's population goes short of food." They further reported that although food prices fell in the final months of 2008, they remain above the long-term trend and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future.
In addition, Oxfam argues that there two growing threats to sustainable food security and that these are likely to exacerbate the problem of hunger. Firstly, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of hazards such as floods, drought and tropical cyclones that destroy crops, livestock and livelihoods. Secondly, the global recession looks set to further increase the number of people going hungry because of its impact on employment, incomes and public spending.
In this regard, Oxfam concludes by making the recommendation that "Governments in developing countries must ensure the realisation of the right to food and social protection of people living in extreme poverty. This will require implementing comprehensive food, agricultural and social protection policies to meet immediate needs and shield vulnerable communities better against the shocks."
This is a call we must all heed and a challenge we must equal. This is not a matter for political point-scoring; it defines our struggle for basic necessities and is at the heart of human dignity. It defines the daily struggles of our people, to which we have to have a plan to respond swiftly and with the urgency required. This is so because ours is a caring nation, ours is a developmental state geared towards the needs of all South Africans. And ours is an ANC-led government that calls for food security, that ensures that no one goes to bed hungry.
As a result, the ANC is committed to creating an environment that ensures that there is an adequate amount of food available to all, that we grow our own food and protect the poor communities from the rising prices of food and eradicate hunger. As part of the measures that constitute our plan to respond swiftly and with the urgency required, the ANC will introduce a food-for-all programme to procure and distribute basic foods at affordable prices to poor households and communities. This is already part of our plan which is in the manifesto.
We will also expand access to food production schemes in rural and peri- urban areas to grow their food by providing implements, tractors, fertilizers and pesticides. Another measure we will put in place includes supporting existing community schemes which utilise land for food production in schools, health facilities, churches and urban and traditional authorities.
In addition, through our election manifesto we emphasised that land and agrarian reform, food security and rural development would occupy significant space in the economic transformation of our country.
When delivering the Budget Speech, the hon Minister of Finance aptly highlighted this fact by emphasising the important role that agriculture plays in rural development and called for the reactivation of agricultural activities on communal land in order to build sustainable rural livelihoods, thus contributing towards poverty eradication. And we agree with the Minister on that.
Through the recent Budget, the ANC-led people-centred government has demonstrated its plan to respond swiftly and with the urgency required by allocating about R1,8 billion for rural development, mainly focused on supporting small-scale agriculture. This is a laudable intervention, Minister, and as Parliament we will put our eyes of oversight on it and ensure that the money is indeed spent and spent appropriately.
As the ANC, we remain resolute in ensuring that there is adequate food available for all our people. As the ANC, whilst we note the inroads we have made in advancing land and agrarian reform, we are still, however, concerned about the pace and quality of land reform. Access to land for production purposes is an essential requirement for the poor to enjoy the benefits of agricultural growth.
The slow pace of land delivery can be attributed to insufficient funding, escalating land prices and capacity issues to enable us to respond adequately to land reform challenges. In terms of funding, the Department of Land Affairs has indicated that it will need approximately R74 billion to deliver on the remaining 21 million hectares of land by 2014.
The consequences and implications of these are that the Department of Land Affairs might need to make adjustments going forward to enable it to effectively implement and sustain a land reform programme. And I'm quite confident that moving forward, this matter will be attended to.
It is precisely because of this reason that through our manifesto as the ANC, and as part of our plan for the next five years, we seek to intensify the land reform programme to ensure that more land is in the hands of the rural poor, and as a result seek to provide them with technical skills, financial resources to productively use the land to create sustainable livelihoods and decent work in rural areas.
In this regard, we call upon all the people of South Africa, in the spirit of the Freedom Charter's clarion call that "the people shall govern", to work with us to achieve the goals of land reform. This, we say, because we know that working together, we can do more.
Finally, as the ANC over the next five years and as part of our comprehensive plan for effective and efficient agrarian reform, we will create an overarching institution with resources and authority to drive and co-ordinate an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change. This will enable us to revive rural economies, create jobs and fight poverty in rural areas. The ANC supports the Appropriation Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]