Chairperson of the Extended Public Committee, hon Minister Joemat-Pettersson, Deputy Minister Mulder, Director-General Langa Zitha, hon members of the portfolio committee and distinguished guests in the gallery, of all the programmes contained in the 2012 Budget Vote of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, food security and agrarian reform attempt to address one of the fundamental pillars of the national democratic revolution.
Within agrarian reform, the principle of food security is embedded. The R1,4 billion that has been appropriated for this programme must be seen within the context of what the ANC-led government has to achieve. [Interjections.]
The ANC defines its vision for South Africa as that of a national democratic society, a society in which the values of human freedom, socioeconomic rights and progress prevail. The food security system must in itself ensure that the agro-food complex advances the basic objectives of the national democratic society. In moving towards a food-secure society, the right to food, as enshrined in the Freedom Charter and South Africa's Constitution, makes the debate on this Vote one of great political importance. Engulfed within the paradigm of population growth, global economic instability and climate change, food security presents a formidable challenge for the national government and this Vote.
The historic approach to food security in South Africa has tended to lean towards food production, to the exclusion of a holistic approach in discussing food security. The reality that South Africa still has an unresolved land and agrarian question poses numerous challenges for the ANC in pursuing the vision of a national democratic society. The food security question remains amongst the most important policies in the consolidation of a national democratic state.
The two poles reflected in the ongoing debate around food security reflect those who are in the agri-processing business, who reflect the advanced accumulation path within the sector in general, and those who reside in the retail food industry.
While South Africa may be food secure as a country, large numbers of households within the country remain food insecure. Food security is not about total food output; rather it must be about an individual's food security. Therefore, greater emphasis on both physical and economic access to food is necessary. An understanding of food insecurity shows that access to adequate food at a household level depends increasingly on how food markets and distribution systems function.
The ANC has adopted the principle of constructing a developmental state, which means that we have a common understanding of the application of food policies. Therefore, we must address food security within the broad framework of a developmental state.
The developmental state must ensure that the agro-food market and macroeconomic considerations address food security in the country. This means ensuring that our policy and legal instruments address the issue of the negative effects that high food prices have on the food security of the population, particularly the poor.
The Integrated Food Security Strategy was adopted in 2002 by the government. It focuses primarily on the food supply problems of volume and stability of food supplies. The development of agriculture within the context of food security is often viewed solely as a technical advancement of large-scale commercial farming. This is the view that agriculture can only contribute to the economy through commercial production. This same argument states that smallholder and subsistence farming have little to offer in terms of production and income from farming.
The 2007 52nd ANC national conference resolved that, one, the current structure of commercial agriculture is the outcome of centuries of dispossession, labour coercion and state subsidies for the chosen few. Since 1994, commercial agriculture has continued to develop in a manner that is characterised by a growing concentration of ownership and farm size, underutilisation of vast tracts of land, capital intensity, job shedding and the casualisation of labour.
The ANC also resolved that, two, while deregulation, liberalisation and the resulting competitive pressures on the sector have eliminated many of the privileges of large-scale farming, various aspects of policy and legislation still reinforce the legacy of the past. The third resolution was that concentrated ownership, price collusion and the high degree of vertical integration in farming, agro-processing and the retail sector limit the space for new entrants, particularly for smallholder farmers. Monopolistic practices also reinforce the recent rises in food prices, which undermine economic growth and the fight against hunger and poverty.
In addressing food security, certain guiding principles must apply. Firstly, the developmental state must create an environment in which communities are able to produce food and have control over its production, and are also empowered economically to be agents of their own development. Secondly, the emerging agricultural sector requires a level of market protection and should not be subjected to competition regulations for its development. Thirdly, sustained economic growth and sustainable development are interlinked. And, fourthly, poverty is one of the most formidable enemies of choice. Therefore, one of the important principles of food security is to contribute to the eradication of poverty and all forms of social and economic discrimination, through the programmes that are aimed at eradicating poverty.
In examining the Budget Vote on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, we must appreciate that this Budget Vote must be used as a tool of evaluating government programmes that are operationalised through the allocation of the budget. This reflects an outcomes-centred public spending approach. The challenge is to evaluate whether or not the macroeconomic perspectives of this Budget Vote meet the requirements of the ANC-led government's policies and give substance to the ANC-led government's five-year plan.
In order to do this we have to ask key questions of this Budget Vote. Firstly, does the Budget Vote reflect the funding of policy priorities of the ANC-led government? Can this be traced to government programmes and projects in the Vote? Secondly, can we trace the increase of funding of policy priorities from the 2011 Budget Vote to this Budget Vote? Thirdly, does the Vote address issues of adequacy, given the mandate of the department? Fourthly, does the Vote reinforce issues of equity, and does it deal with unemployment and poverty and can these be traced in the Vote? Fifthly, are the directives of the Medium-Term Budget Vote Statement of 2011 met in this Budget Vote?
In assessing the Budget Vote, it is clear, as reflected in the programmes of this Vote, that this Vote does reflect the funding of policy priorities. These priorities are largely, but not exclusively, found in the New Growth Path policy document and can be traced in the line items of the Vote of funds.
The central question remains whether the Budget Vote is adequate given the huge mandate that this department has been given within finite resources.
The thrust of this Budget Vote speaks to dealing with matters of unemployment and poverty eradication. In this regard, the question of whether the Vote addresses matters of ensuring greater equity is to be found. Certainly, the linkages between the October 2011 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement and this Budget Vote can be drawn. In conclusion, the ANC supports Vote 26: Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. I thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Thank you, Chairperson, and all the members for their contributions. Thank you very much, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, for attending this Budget Vote debate.
I would like to conclude by saying that our dedicated Strategic Integrated Project for agriculture, agro-logistics and rural infrastructure is part of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, which includes plans for fresh produce marketing depots for smallholder farmers; production infrastructure for crops and animals; the revitalisation of various irrigation schemes, including the Vaalharts-Taung irrigation scheme; the refurbishment and upgrading of agricultural colleges; and various projects such as grain storage facilities and rehabilitated irrigation schemes in the former homelands, as well as fencing, including border fences and animal quarantine facilities at our borders.
These infrastructure projects will be implemented in a phased-in approach. [Interjections.] In addition, the rail freight network will be made more easily and cheaply available for the transport of bulk agriculture, forestry and fisheries commodities.
Hon Chairperson, in keeping with our theme of "Working together for food security", we hosted our first delivery forum during March this year. The delivery forum is an ideal platform to cement stakeholder relationships in pursuit of our developmental objectives. It will emphasise strong co- ordination and communication to ensure that things get done. Improving the flow of information and ideas between government and the private sector will enhance our ability to identify new and better opportunities for investment.
This industry that we manage has more than 360 organisations in agriculture alone, and another 360 organisations in fisheries. In agriculture, more than half of these 360 organisations are lily-white. The other half of them are black. Now if I had to meet a white red-meat society and Nerpo, the National Emergent Red Meat Producers Organisation, a black red-meat society, I'd be spending five years just meeting all these organisations that have developed. [Interjections.]
Hon members, tell me earnestly: How do I meet each and every commodity group under the sun when there is only 365 days in a year? Hon Groenewald, you have a Deputy Minister, who is the leader of your party. I have already asked the Deputy Minister whether his people speak, because it is obvious that you don't speak to the Deputy Minister. This is because you behave as if your party is not part of this Ministry. If you have advice on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, go to the Deputy Minister and give him that advice. That advice will reach me very ... [Inaudible.]