Pretoria – The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will in the next 16 years aim to create one million jobs, says Minister Senzeni Zokwana.
“Agriculture is identified as a key job driver, and our target is to create one million jobs by 2030,” said the minister, tabling his department’s budget vote in Parliament on Wednesday.
He said the target will be achieved by providing comprehensive support to smallholder farmers by speeding up land reform and providing technical, infrastructural and financial support.
“Support will be provided to communities to engage in food production and subsistence farming to promote food security, in line with the Fetsa Tlala food production programme,” said the minister.
He said the 2014/15 budget vote was geared towards accelerating the implementation of programmes as identified in the 2014/15 to 2018/19 Strategic Plan of the Department. These programmes provide government with the opportunity to make a significant dent in unemployment by creating one million jobs.
Minister Zokwana said social forces will be mobilised and seamless governance between national, provincial and local government and all other relevant cluster departments will be strengthened so that one million hectares of fallow land in rural areas are planted and harvested.
“A major part of community mobilisation will require us to make our resources available to all our producers, in particular, those who live in remote areas. Day-to-day issues in livestock farming call on our public entities to bring vaccines and other services in particular, extension services, closer to those who need them the most.
“We need to bring our extension officers closer to the people who require their assistance the most. As such, uMchunu at Msinga must not lose livestock because he could not pay for the services of a private vet when the state provides for extension officers and veterinary services.”
To assist smallholder producers, the department has allocated a significant portion of its budget to support programmes.
These funds are directly transferred to provinces for programmes including the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), Ilima/Letsema and LandCare.
CASP aims at increasing farm output, especially for the beneficiaries of land reform, contributing towards the Fetsa Tlala food security initiative. It further aims to attract more women and young people into the sector.
CASP has been allocated an amount of R1.861 billion, an amount of R460 million for Ilima/Letsema and R67.8 million for LandCare.
“There is a study underway to look into monitoring the impacts of CASP and changes in its approach. Going forward, together with the provinces, we will realign the focusing and targeting of CASP. All of these are grants that are aimed at assisting smallholder producers, however, penetration needs to be maximised,” explained Minister Zokwana.
He added that achieving food security for all citizens is a non-negotiable priority.
“We must strive for the agricultural food economy to increasingly contribute to decreasing levels of food insecurity.This collective sense of purpose is captured in the Food and Nutrition Security Policy, approved in September 2013, which will be championed in earnest together with the Department of Social Development.
“This policy requires the acceleration of Fetsa Tlala which is the productive response to food insecurity.” – SAnews.gov.za
