Thank you, Chair. Based on comments from presenters and the audience, key priorities emerging from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, Plas, public debate on rural transformation held in January 2011 included land reform; service delivery in rural areas; experimenting with alternative modes of agricultural production, such as smallholder producers and organics; access to food value chains for more producers, especially small producers; the rising costs of farm inputs, including new technologies, fertiliser and petrol; and ecological matters.
In addition to urgent land reform and redistribution, delegates also argued for "comprehensive improved service delivery plans" for rural areas, and "investment in teaching and instilling the value and importance of growing food in young people". The department's programmes appear to address these priorities. Hopefully budget and a lack of capacity will not limit the results.
Is the department able to address complaints that the bureaucracy involved, for example, in becoming an approved supplier to a supermarket is too complicated and costly for small farmers? Big brands in South Africa crowd out small traders in poor areas. In other African countries, local producers can sell to the local population in order to eke out an existence, while in South Africa local producers are forced to compete with large producers. Since 1994 many rural towns have deteriorated as big supermarkets have moved in, forcing local shops, traders, etc, out of business.
A general lack of investment in farming due to uncertainty relating to land reform challenges has resulted in national food security being increasingly at risk. The lobby for sustainable agriculture has pointed out that since 1994 even established farmers, or white farmers if you like, in South Africa have gone bust due to the harsher global climate, the impact of globalised trade and tariff reduction, and the higher cost of inputs like petrol and fertiliser. If running capital-intensive farms are struggling in harder times, how can we expect small-scale farmers to cope?
In South Africa, land and food are increasingly owned by corporate enterprises, as they can more easily bear the risks and variability of food growing. As global discussion conferences on the agri-food system and food security are generally sponsored by banks, chemical companies or food multinationals, all with vested interests in the sector, can these conferences be expected to represent the interests of the many poor farmers who rely on small holdings for subsistence?
If sustainable agriculture is to succeed, we will need more inclusive and diversified agricultural and rural development models. The ACDP supports land reform which includes service provision and skills transfer, and stimulates local economies with value-adding business. Rural development and transformation, both government and presidential priorities reflected in this budget, must now ensure that money goes both to farming and to creating rural infrastructure, access to markets, storage and credit facilities.
The ACDP will support this budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]