Hon Chairman, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members of the House and guests, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries developed its integrated growth and development plan to support the New Growth Path, to achieve the transformation and restructuring the sector needed. The budget for 2011-12 must therefore be judged in terms of the above addressing the following issues.
Stygende voedselpryse het 'n direkte impak op elke inwoner van Suid-Afrika se lewenspeil, meer nog op die armes. In 2008 reeds het daar in sommige lande geweld uitgebreek omdat die mense nie meer kos kon bekostig nie. Danksy die huidige sterk rand het Suid-Afrika nog nie die volle impak van die jongste vlaag prysverhogings gevoel nie, maar indien vakbondleiers en ander regeringslui se oproepe om die rand kunsmatig te verswak, gevolg word, sal voedselpryse drasties verhoog en sal so 'n stap die armstes die swaarste tref.
Dit is dus ironies dat daar nou nog deur die departement meer fokus op transformasie geplaas word, as om die wesenlike gevaar van voedselsekerheid en ho voedselpryse aan te spreek.
Dit blyk uit Landbousensus se jaarlikse peiling dat sowat 20% van Suid- Afrika se boere nie vanjaar hul produksiegeld sal kan terugbetaal nie. Landbouskuld gaan dus steeds toeneem en kontantvloei verswak. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Rising food prices have a direct impact on the standard of living of each inhabitant of South Africa, more so on the poor. As early as 2008, there were outbreaks of violence in some countries because the people could no longer afford food. Thanks to the current strong rand, South Africa has not yet felt the full impact of the latest wave of price increases, but if the calls by trade union leaders and others in government to artificially weaken the rand are adhered to, food prices will rise dramatically, which would affect the poorest the most.
It is therefore ironic that the department is still more focused on transformation rather than on addressing the substantial threat of food security and high food prices.
According to the Agricultural Census' annual statistics, it appears that approximately 20% of South Africa's farmers will not be able to repay their production costs this year. Agricultural debt will therefore continue to increase and cash flow will weaken.]
Just one example to illustrate the above: Primary wine grape producers are under serious financial pressure and have been for the past six years. They experienced a drop in wine grape prices of 40%, and an increase in production costs of 40%, while the profit margins of wine farms have decreased by more than 50% since 2004.
'n Primre wynprodusent verdien gemiddeld - en u moet luister - 44 sent uit 'n bottel wyn wat vir R24 in die kleinhandel verkoop.
Terselfdertyd verdien die regering, na hierdie jaar se aksynsverhoging, R4,56 per bottel wyn uit BTW en aksyns. Die regering verdien dus tien maal meer as wat die boer, die produsent, daarvoor kry.
Ander aspekte wat beleggersvertroue negatief benvloed is, onder andere, die volgende: Uitsprake van onteiening wat oor boere se koppe hang; stygende misdaad in landelike gebiede; die besoedelingsgevaar van rioolwater en mynbou; en die verswakkende infrastruktuur. Ons kan aangaan.
Die resultaat hiervan kan ons voedselsekerheid, werkskepping en landelike ontwikkeling in gedrang bring. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[On average, a primary wine producer earns - and you should listen - 44 cent per bottle of wine that retails for R24.
At the same time, the government, after this year's excise tax increase, earns R4,56 per bottle of wine through VAT and excise. The government therefore earns ten times more than the farmer, the producer.
Other factors that negatively influence investor confidence are, amongst others, the following: Statements regarding expropriation that hang over farmers' heads; an increase in crime in rural areas; the pollution risk associated with waste water and mining; and the weakening infrastructure. We can go on.
The outcome of this could jeopardise our food security, job creation and development of rural areas.]
The agricultural sector has been identified - we heard that this morning - as one of the key job creators in the New Growth Path to assist government in the fight against poverty. Agriculture in South Africa accounts for about 8% of the country's total employment.
Die aantal plaaswerkers het die afgelope dekades drasties gedaal, terwyl die regering die sektor geoormerk het om 250 000 nuwe werkgeleenthede teen 2020 te skep. Die Minister het vanoggend 'n ander syfer genoem. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[The number of farmworkers has declined dramatically over the past decades, while the government has earmarked the sector to create 250 000 new job opportunities by 2020. The Minister mentioned another figure this morning.]
The number of people employed on commercial farms dropped by 27,1% between 1994 and 2007, or from 1,1 million to 790 000 workers. Similarly, the same trend was echoed in the number of farms, which declined from 57 994 to 39 900 in 2007, a decrease of 31%. Economies of scale, leading to farms merging is one reason, maybe the most important reason for the decline in the number of farms.
Boerdery in die vryemarkomgewing bly 'n besigheid wat winsgewend moet wees om te kan oorleef. Arbeidskoste bly 'n produksiekoste wat oordeelkundig bestuur moet word vir maksimum wins. Die Departement van Arbeid se arbeidswetsontwerpe maak die kans op die skepping van nuwe poste selfs kleiner, terwyl die Extension of Security of Tenure Act en die nuwe konsepwetgewing oor sekerheid van verblyfreg deur verskeie bekende marknavorsers as dwaasheid bestempel word.
Die slotsom waartoe die DA kom, is dat die regering self besig is om werksgeleenthede in die sektor te vernietig en nie die groeiteiken van 250 000 nuwe poste sal bereik nie, tensy hulle die speelveld drasties verander en die gewraakte wette verwyder.
Die harde feite bewys dat boerdery in Suid-Afrika die gevaarlikste beroep ter wreld is. Die moordsyfer vir boere in Suid-Afrika is 333 per 100 000 boere. Vergeleke met 111 per 100 000 soldate wat in Irak militre diens verrig, is die kans dus drie keer groter vir 'n Suid-Afrikaanse boer om vermoor te word as vir 'n soldaat om in Irak te sneuwel! Dit is dus skrikwekkend en vereis die hoogste prioriteit van die regering.
Mens kan die vraag dus vra: Wil jy 'n boer in Suid-Afrika wees? Die antwoord is nee. Dit is te gevaarlik. Ek gaan veg eerder in Irak; dit is veiliger. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Farming in the free-market system remains an enterprise that needs to be profitable in order to survive. Labour cost remains a production cost that needs to be managed sensibly in order to produce maximum profit. The labour Bills from the Department of Labour reduce the chance of creating new positions even more, whilst various well-known market researchers regard the Extension of Security of Tenure Act and the new draft legislation on security of tenure as foolishness.
The DA has come to the conclusion that the government itself is busy destroying job opportunities in the sector and that the growth target of 250 000 new positions will not be met unless they change the playing field drastically and remove the Acts that have been objected to.
The hard facts prove that farming in South Africa is the most treacherous profession in the world. The murder rate for farmers in South Africa is 333 of every 100 000 farmers. In comparison to 111 of every 100 000 soldiers who perform military service in Iraq, the chances are three times greater for a South African farmer to be murdered than for a soldier to die in battle in Iraq! This is appalling and requires the highest priority from government.
One could thus ask the question: Do you want to be a farmer in South Africa? The answer is no. It is too dangerous. I would rather go into combat in Iraq; it's safer.]
The year 2011 marks the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity under the theme, "Biodiversity is Life". It is a theme of critical interest to farmers since biodiversity and agriculture are interdependent; both are also key elements to address climate change, and food safety and security.
Farmers are contributing to the conservation and protection of biodiversity through practices such as land set aside for wildlife and indigenous plant species, conservation farming, organic farming, reforestation, rotational grazing, and rehabilitation of degraded land.
From the above it is obvious that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also has the responsibility to manage the risks associated with animal disease, plant pests, genetically modified organisms and registration of products used in the agricultural sector to promote food safety.
Over the past two years, we have seen on various occasions that the department has failed to deliver on this important issue. To give you an example, the responses by government to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in KwaZulu-Natal left much to be desired. The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, as well as Veterinary Services waited until it was too late effectively to control the area where the outbreak started. No movement control had been implemented as a matter of urgency, even though the Defence Force was on standby.
When foot-and-mouth disease was detected in southern Mozambique in December last year, Swaziland took immediate steps to prevent it from entering their country, while our own Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries did not take any action, resulting in our OIE foot-and-mouth-free status being withdrawn and our borders being closed for export of products of animal origin.
The main stumbling block appears to be a lack of capacity and knowledge of the control systems in government, as currently 37% of veterinarian posts are vacant and 26% of border and control zone staff posts are vacant in the department. Let me remind you that on a previous occasion, as part of a bilateral agreement with Zambia, our own Minister intended to import sable from Zambia, a country which has an endemic foot-and-mouth disease status - I'm just reminding you.
At the same time, senior officials in the relevant departments were removed from their posts, and in some cases even given demotions. We believe that they were removed because they were, correctly, not prepared to issue the necessary permits for the import of the sable.
The department has also been dealing with an outbreak of Rift Valley fever, which was similarly badly managed. To make things even worse, just last week we experienced an outbreak of avian flu in the Western Cape among the ostrich population, which will cost the ostrich farmers about R108 million per month in lost income.
This brings me to the budget and management of those institutions dealing with the above issues. The Agricultural Research Council is funded from government grants and income generated from research. A parliamentary budget of R709 million for the financial year 2011-12 decreased by 1%, and is too little to cover all the costs of the entity, and to fill all the critical vacancies, and also maintain the ageing infrastructure.
Onderstepoort Biological Products, OBP, was left without any government support in the past, and had to sustain itself by selling vaccines locally and internationally. The replacement of critical equipment to ensure supply of vaccines could cost the government R120 million over the following two years.
Although Onderstepoort Biological Products generated a surplus for this past financial year, it could not use it because it was operating without a board since September last year, and with a suspended CEO since April 2010, all because of a lack of urgency by the hon Minister to execute her duty to replace the OBP board and to dismiss the CEO, costing Onderstepoort Biological Products approximately R100 000 up to November 2010 in wasteful expenditure.
Considering wasteful expenditure, I would also seriously question the Minister's expenditure on international visits, spending R1,737 million on 18 visits abroad between July 2009 and November 2010, especially spending R889 955 on one chartered flight to Egypt.
In conclusion, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is people-driven and the correct people need to be appointed to do the job. The DA questions the logic of cadre deployment and appointing people to positions for which they are not qualified, whilst at the same time removing others from posts in which their skills could have been used more effectively.
Furthermore, we are concerned over the general lack of monitoring and evaluation of the provincial departments' ability to deliver on important issues such as the agricultural colleges, extension services and the overall support to emerging farmers.
The lack of oversight and vision, as well as poor delivery by the department, can be blamed entirely on the Minister's lack of leadership and understanding of the sector, which seriously threatens the sustainability of the country's food security. I thank you, Chair. [Applause.]