Free State’s recently elected MEC for agriculture and rural development, Zacharia “Saki” Mokoena might be new to steering the ship with his new portfolio but he intends on making a valuable contribution while he is in office.
In an interview with Food For Mzansi, Mokoena talks about taking over the agricultural portfolio following the reconfiguration of the Free State provincial cabinet in March.
While Mokoena admits that the challenges faced by the agricultural sector are many, he sees potential and assures role players that his office responds to issues seriously and aggressively.
Duncan Masiwa: MEC, how’s the new portfolio treating you?
Zacharia Mokoena: We are two months in. It is quite a lot of stress and I have a bit of grey hair already. But I think I have settled in.
Agriculture in the province faces many challenges, what are you prioritising?
My top priority for Free State Agriculture (FSA) in terms of the agricultural sector and society as a whole, is to appreciate the strategic nature and value of agriculture in the Free State. This sector is a strategic economic driver giving you a variation of between 9-12% of the provincial GDP.
That is not a small number and we have to make agriculture in the Free State the key strategic driver of our economy and that is where we are headed.
The government is coming in as a partner to work with farmers to ensure growth in production, consolidation of various commodities, and to open markets nationally and globally. As well as to put up three or four agro-processing plants to lead the way in ensuring that new industries that come out of the province are linked to agriculture.
In the past, our towns were built around gold and agriculture. Every town has a railway line, station with storage for agricultural goods. It’s an infrastructure that we must leverage.
So, I see potential more than challenges. It is our job as leaders, both in the private sector and state, to resolve problems and build our nation.
You had a productive meeting with organised agriculture recently, what are the next steps?
The next step is to tackle the rural roads which have deteriorated over the past few years with little or no maintenance. We need to ensure that farmers have the best possible and efficient ways to transport their crops.
We’ll be meeting with the department of home affairs to help us stem the tide in terms of the Lesotho land border posts and SA in terms of stock theft.
The organised agriculture groups that we have met here are committed and they are excited that the government are starting to show signs of taking the sector seriously and aggressively responding to their issues.
You have a year left before the next elections. What boxes do you hope to tick before then?
We have a programme that we have to commit to, we have young farmers that we have to bring up to speed and farmers that we have to push towards commercialisation. The Free State has to push the agenda for factories that will deal with processing.
We are consolidating on commodities in terms of each region so that I can fully exploit what each region can give us, whether it’s livestock or crops.
I believe that we are already turning the tide in terms of the narrative about agriculture as the economic driver of the Free State. To some extent, we are rebuilding the credibility of the agenda of government in relation to agriculture and for that, I am quite excited.
I never think about failure, I think about what I have to do. If I don’t get it right today, I’ll try to get it right tomorrow. By the end of this term, we will have to tend to agriculture in the province.
What is your message to farmers in the Free State?
We’ve got many challenges but we are quite capable. We have a very robust agricultural sector in the Free State and I believe in the capacity to produce more. We are heading into new spaces where we are not only producing but processing and selling finished products to the country. Let’s work together because we have more to accomplish.
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