Agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza will be closely watched when she delivers her 2023-24 budget speech on Tuesday, 9 May.
Some agricultural role players are hoping for a climate change-sensitive budget, while also wanting the minister to prioritise land reform, assistance for farmers affected by floods, training and development and more.
In a few days, Minister Didiza unveils where the national budget for agriculture will go for the next financial year. Food For Mzansi spoke to several players to hear their thoughts on where Didiza’s budget should focus on.
Is there a budget for climate change?
For the executive manager of WaterCan and environmental justice activist Dr Ferrial Adam, it is quite simple. Minister Didiza’s budget should put a serious focus on climate change.
“We need a budget speech that takes into account the fact that vast parts of our country either have no water or are subjected to floods at the moment,” Adam said.
“What we need is to change the whole system of agriculture. The commercial huge farms are not going to be affordable in the future with climate change and all other resources that we need such as water.”
Adam is not convinced climate change will feature in the budget. She believes the country is not on the right level of commitment when it comes to climate change.
Another concern is the high levels of sewage pollution in Mzansi’s water, Adam said.
“The water that is being used for irrigation is polluted with sewage and it also has other pathogens and affects our food directly,” Adam said.
“I think if the departments of water and sanitation, and the [national department of] agriculture do not link up and stop working in silos, we will have a very big challenge on our hands with regards to food shortages.”
Land reform and customary tenure rights
Ruth Hall from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), said the land reform programme has been failing. She believes that the problem is policy, legislation and budgets.
“The top three priorities that I see from a legislative point of view is that Minister Didiza should be saying something firm about the need for defence of customary tenure rights, and the resolution of the inadequate protection of the land rights of around 19 million people who live in the former Bantustans,” she said.
“This has been an appalling failure of the democratic state to provide defence of these rights and, despite continued challenges by rural people themselves. The state is insistent on wanting to adopt a model of transferring private title which would undermine customary tenure rights. So that’s the first thing to watch, the debacle around customary tenure rights.”
Hall hopes the minister will pick up on the issue of food prices and says she’s likely to focus on the need for improving production and efficiency. However, she thinks this is a key mistake because repeatedly, Didiza’s ministry prioritises increasing production efficiency and access to inputs for production.
Instead, the department should address the power of big corporate entities over the entire food system, from input supplies to farming to processing to food manufacture and retail.
AAMP needs financial backing
Thandeka Mbassa, CEO of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa) told Food For Mzansi that there has to be dedicated and deliberate investment in the implementation of the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP).
Furthermore, she said: “The impact of load shedding and how the department can cushion farmers against the impact and ensure food security is crucial. We would like to see the department provide subsidies for alternative sources of energy for farmers. Fortunately, the department has already started negotiations with Eskom on how load shedding can be better managed.”
Mbassa also highlighted fuel prices. She said small-scale farmers who do not have plan Bs are most vulnerable to these elements, which is why technical support to farmers is so important.
Mentorship and training
Andreas Klaase, a citrus and table grape farmer in Clanwilliam, Western Cape said the budget needs to really support smaller farmers in the Cederberg Region in the Western Cape.
“They are not doing enough. Our farmers also need mentors and proper training. There should be a budget for training and development,” Klaase said
According to Klaase, farmers in Clanwilliam have so much potential but are neglected. He said farmers fail when they are given money without proper mentorship and training.
“Farmers need help and training and mentorship is key to the success of new and upcoming farmers,” Klaase said.
What about urban farmers?
Johannesburg urban farmer, Andile Matukane would like the budget to support urban farmers
“Our space is different from regular farmers. Will the budget include urban farming and transportation?”
Matukane is the founder of Farmers Choice, an urban farm atop an old parking lot at the Menlyn Park Centre in Pretoria. She originally started out in Magaliesburg, also in Gauteng, where locals know her as “the spinach lady”.
Matukane’s other two farms in Mpumalanga and Limpopo are still operational. The expansion to Menlyn Park is part of her vision to expand her business empire. “In Mpumalanga, we are still selling pigs while in Limpopo we sell seedlings, so all three farms are up and running and we intend to add more,” she told Food For Mzansi.
Jagersfontein farmers plead for help
Maize farmer from Jagersfontein, Albertus van Schalkwyk, said he made a plea to the government for compensation following the burst of the mine walls last year.
“What we need is compensation to keep our operations going. Some of the land we have is no longer usable meaning cashflow for the farmers starts to be affected,” he said.
“While a lot has been done for us as farmers here, we believe more can be done to secure the jobs around here. If you have to scale down on operations it also affects the number of workers that one has to take, leading to job cuts and a rise in unemployment.”
Support flood-affected farmers
Hawu Mbatha, a sugar cane farmer in KwaZulu-Natal, said efforts must be made by provinces to coordinate and synergize markets with producers to avoid product waste. He’d also like better working relations between farmers and provincial departments to be emphasised.
“I would like her to announce an immediate intervention to assist land reform black farmers who were seriously affected by floods and who are on the verge of collapse because of what is happening to the sugar industry,” she said.
“Didiza has to pay particular attention to livestock farmers whose farms are collapsing as a result of stock theft and flooding. I hope there’s a focused approach on energy as Eskom costs have become unaffordable.”
Just another budget with promises?
A leading gold kiwifruit farmer in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, Peter Nicholson, who employs 50 full-time staff, is not excited about the upcoming budget speech.
“I do not think she will focus on anything; it is all about enriching themselves and their politically connected comrades.
“Fact of the matter is that farmers are taking proper strains on many factors facing them, from load shedding to petrol price increases. Unfortunately, the worse is yet to come,” Nicholson said.
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