The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers; Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;
All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose;
People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be abolished.
That's what the Congress of the People said and, indeed, the pseudo- Congress of the People of today cannot say anything close to this. [Interjections.]
Almost 40 years later, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, further enhanced this Freedom Charter vision by aiming to increase production and employment in agriculture through the further development of commercial agriculture. At the same time, it saw the need to change ownership patterns through land reform and improve support to small-scale agriculture, particularly to women.
A key aim of the RDP was to provide affordable food to meet the basic needs of all South Africans. Full worker rights were to be extended to farm workers and their working and living conditions improved. That's what the RDP said. It continued and said that the fishing industry had to be restructured so that poor coastal communities could have access to sea resources and there was sustainable management of these resources.
There must be tighter government control and better management of our forestry resources in order to lower the price of paper.
These are not my words; this is what was proclaimed in the RDP in 1994.
Our own National Development Plan further enjoins us to envision a South Africa in which, by 2020, the number of households living below R418 per month has decreased from 39% to zero.
By 2030, South Africa's rural communities should have greater opportunity to participate fully in the economic, social and political life of the country. People should be able to access high quality basic services to enable them to be well nourished, healthy and increasingly skilled. Rural communities will be supported by agriculture - agroprocessing - and fisheries.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries department, consistent with the country's development plan, has identified Vision 2030 in its Integrated Growth and Development Plan. It seeks to grow and transform the three subsectors of our economy through "... equitable, productive, competitive, profitable and sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, growing to the benefit of all South Africans".
Right from the time the Freedom Charter was adopted, until now, with the Integrated Growth and Development Plan, IGDP, society was taken on board, confirming every step of the way that, indeed, the ANC leads and the ANC lives. [Applause.] This is precisely because here you are talking about a shared vision. Any vision must be shared by all for it to succeed in any society which intends to implement it.
Hon Deputy Minister, Vote 26 therefore provides us with a platform that seeks to take forward this vision of "an equitable, productive, competitive, profitable and sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector, growing to the benefit of all South Africans" by realising the goal of land being shared among those who work it.
I must spell out from the outset that, given the mammoth task confronting the department, its budget, alongside those of the National Agriculture Marketing Council, the Perishable Products Export Control Board, the Agricultural Research Council and Onderstepoort Biological Products, falls far short of realising the vision that has been spelt out.
Minister, I am convinced that, in the words of the hon Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan: "In harnessing all the resources at our disposal, we have to do more, with less; we have to work smarter and harder."
Fellow South Africans, commercial agriculture covers productive areas of approximately 82 million hectares and is made up of less than 40 000 predominantly white-owned farmer units in South Africa. It is responsible for more than 99% of South Africa's formal marketed agricultural output. There has been a significant increase in the concentration of farm holdings as a result of smaller and less efficient farms, unable to take advantage of increasing economies of scale, being forced out of the sector.
Despite the decrease in the number of farming units, output from commercial agriculture has continued to grow, implying an increase in the efficiency of production. Export growth has increased, especially in the horticultural sector. Trade figures show that South African farm exports increased from R45 billion in 2008 to R46 billion in 2009, while imports decreased by 8,5% to R35 billion in 2009. The sector has, however, become more sustainable in environmental terms.
Smallholder agriculture covers an estimated 14 million hectares of agricultural land and involves some 300 000 to 350 000 predominantly black farmers. It is concentrated principally in the former homeland areas of the country, and is thus marginalised into regions of poor productive land, with little or no infrastructural support or water resources.
The smallholder farmers generally have low levels of productive efficiency, and their productive inefficiency is linked primarily to poor farmer management skills, eg natural resource management, production and infrastructural management. This is exacerbated by poor and unco-ordinated support services directed at smallholder farms, among other things, financial services, technical support, access to transport and other support infrastructure.
The nature of existing value chains and value-chain governance locks small farmers out of the markets. There is poor co-ordination amongst small farmers in accessing services, which is exacerbated by input and output markets. In general, there is insufficient information and data regarding smallholder farming, hence the need for co-ordinated research and data information and a call centre.
When it comes to transformation, Minister, I must mention that our committee is not satisfied with the legislative programme from your department especially aimed at driving transformation in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors of our economy.