• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
President Cyril Ramaphosa said government will prioritise steps to ensure that water licence applications are finalised within 90 days after being lodged. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Ramaphosa: A trail of crumbs on agriculture’s future

21st June 2021
Judith Wilson, commercial director for the South African Sugar Association (SASA) dies at the age of 45. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Sugar industry mourns death of master plan visionary

18th August 2022
John Deere launches redesigned ADT in South Africa. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

John Deere launches new ADT in Mzansi

18th August 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
Afrivet takes EC pig project to world stage

Afrivet takes EC pig project to world stage

18th August 2022
The future holds lower margins for farmers in both the field crop and livestock industry, according to a new report. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer profits could drop in turbulent future

18th August 2022
Plant-based meat alternatives are increasingly popular and their producers say their packaging never claims to contain real meat. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Veggie meat clampdown to kick off on Monday

18th August 2022
Nambwale Kalunga, Netafim’s technical advisor in Zambia, Eastern Cape regenerative farmers, Karen, and Roger Galloway, subtropical farmer in Limpopo, Khuliso Madima, and Leona Archary, CEO of the Agricultural Development Agency. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: ‘Precision irrigation helps farmers grow more with less’

17th August 2022
Sun City Resort fights climate change while uplifting community with tree-planting project. Photo: Supplied/Citrus Academy

Fighting climate change, the citrus way

17th August 2022
Seasonal agricultural workers sorting hops after a harvest. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Seasonal farmworkers: ‘We need our UIF money to survive’

17th August 2022
Dr Peter Oberem (right), the founder of Afrivet Southern Africa, with Ronan Smith, Bimeda’s chief executive for the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific division. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Bimeda’s Afrivet takeover ‘to strengthen animal health offering’

17th August 2022
Agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza has placed a 21-day ban on the movement of cattle across South Africa due to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

16th August 2022
Illegal sand mining poses a threat to many ecosystems, human safety and agricultural practises. Photo: Pixabay

Will the world run out of sand?

18th August 2022
Organic certification is a long, but rewarding process. Photo: Supplied/Food for Mzansi

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

16th August 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Sun City Resort fights climate change while uplifting community with tree-planting project. Photo: Supplied/Citrus Academy

    Fighting climate change, the citrus way

    Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

    R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

    The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

    This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

    How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

    His life took a turn for the worst when he ended up in jail for dealing in drugs, but Thembinkosi Matika turned his life around and now helps others through his Legacy Farming Project. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

    Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Claire and Martin Joubert have sacrificed and struggled to become top breeders of Ankole cattle in South Africa. But giving up was never an option, because they wanted to offer only the very best Ankole genetics in the country. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farming couple lives and breathes Ankole cattle

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

Ramaphosa: A trail of crumbs on agriculture’s future

by foodformzansi
21st June 2021
in Between the Headlines, Food for Thought
Reading Time: 11 mins read
A A
President Cyril Ramaphosa said government will prioritise steps to ensure that water licence applications are finalised within 90 days after being lodged. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

President Cyril Ramaphosa said government would prioritise steps to ensure that water licence applications are finalised within 90 days after being lodged. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Jan-Jan Joubert is an experienced political journalist and writer who has covered the South African parliament from the press gallery since 2001.  His latest book, Will South Africa be ok? tackles the state of South African politics since the 2019 elections.

The agricultural sector had the rare pleasure of being specifically complimented as a star performer during Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address, believes Jan-Jan Joubert. More importantly, the president gave understated, yet clear indications of intended government actions and policies which could affect and change the sector for many years to come.

While many agricultural leaders were disappointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address (SONA), it does provide a number of important policy-pointers.

Specific compliments to especially the commercial agricultural sector from the ANC’s side of the parliamentary aisle are truly rare.

However, during his SONA on Thursday, the head of state said that “in the midst of all the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the agricultural sector has performed remarkably well.”

Ramaphosa: President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation address on Thursday evening, trying his best to inspire South Africans amid economic decline and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation address, trying his best to inspire South Africans amid economic decline and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Supplied/GCIS

He listed that during the past year, South Africa became the world’s second largest exporter of citrus, with much export growth in wine, maize, nuts, deciduous fruit and sugar cane.

No mention was made of state plans to combat the currently rapidly worsening locust plague destroying crops and foliage in the Northern Cape.

Nor was their mentions of how to combat the structural rural provincial poverty deepened by a drought for which emergency funding was slow to be announced, and positively pedestrian to actually materialise.

Similarly, Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul failed completely to take notice of the locust threat and the drought crisis when he limited this week’s state of emergency announcement to flood damage.

Behind unsaid words

Minister of agriculture, land reform and rural development, Thoko Didiza. Photo: Supplied/DALRRD

It would have been political suicide on many levels for Ramaphosa to credit the hugely positive impact of these figures on agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza’s persistent and relatively successful lobbying for farming operations to continue during the lockdown.

This was in ways hardly any other sector of the economy was allowed to, so that was left unsaid.

The president did claim credit, on behalf of his government, for the finalisation of the poultry and sugar master plans. He linked this to positive developments, such as South Africa producing a million chickens a week more than before, and an agreement from large users to source at least 80% of its sugar needs locally.

According to Ramaphosa, the sugar master plan has contributed to the stabilisation of the sugar industry with its 85 000 workers, with less sugar imported at the very moment when more sugar was produced locally.  

The sugar master plan seeks to take urgent action to protect thousands of jobs, rural livelihoods and businesses. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
The sugar master plan seeks to take urgent action to protect thousands of jobs, rural livelihoods and businesses. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

And then he came to the business end of what the agricultural sector could expect from government…

Ramaphosa believes the recent and prevailing weather conditions over large parts of the country, coupled with the said growth in the sector, together provide an excellent opportunity to accelerate land redistribution through land restitution and expropriation.

Land reform debate

Regarding expropriation, the president’s choice of words gave a strong indication to parliamentarians and the general population of what he means by “expropriation”.

Firstly, he did not say “expropriation without compensation”.

Although, obviously not expressly ruling out expropriation without compensation, it was a none too subtle reminder to anyone clamouring for expropriation without compensation en masse as an instant and general panacea to all land injustices, that such actions should only happen in a limited and prescribed manner.

This was decided at the 2017 ANC conference, but often forgotten by many.

And just in case anyone missed that point, Ramaphosa said that redistribution and expropriation must happen in a way that boosted overall agricultural output.

Whether these nuanced views will chime with his party’s caucus as parliament enters the final stage of amending clause 25 of the Constitution (the property clause) remains to be seen, and certainly isn’t a given.

The president put on record that, thus far, 5 million hectares, totalling 5 500 farms and benefiting 300 000 people, have been redistributed. In addition, through the process of restitution, according to the president 2,7 million people have benefited from 2 million hectares restituted.

Clarity on ‘beneficiaries’

When one pauses to think about it, the numbers as they are and as they have been presented do not add up, unless there is a somewhat less than literal use of terminology.

It might be helpful to define the term “beneficiary” somewhat more closely.

Award-winning pig farmer Ivan Cloete lost his Western Cape farm after his lease agreement with government was ended. Photo: Supplied/ Food For Mzansi
Pig farmer Ivan Cloete lost his Western Cape farm after his lease agreement with government was ended. Photo: Supplied/ Food For Mzansi

If “beneficiary” means landowner or farmer, the number of beneficiaries are too high for the number of hectares listed, unless that could be one of the explanations for why state-led restitution and redistribution has resulted in economic and agricultural failure in an eye-watering 90% of all cases.

If “beneficiaries” include those who opted for cash rather than land, surely such information is best clarified so as not to possibly leave the public under a false impression.

ALSO READ: ‘Black farmers betrayed by government’

Such clarity would also help one understand whether the state land redistribution and restitution programme is primarily adding to the African subsistence farming class.

This could be by primarily creating an African commercial farming class which can produce for markets (implying economy of scale, on the face of it well-nigh impossible).

They could thereby contribute to national food security in a rapidly urbanising country, or Ramaphosa could’ve implied a cash hand-out to correct injustices of the past. This would not really be about changing patterns of land ownership at all.

No mention, at all, was made of the continuing abuse of and weaknesses in the state-led system, whether efforts to improve it have been successful or failed, and whether further improvements are planned.

Water infrastructure

The president emphasised the importance of job creation and announced a job creation stimulus plan about which very little practical detail was provided.

Ramaphosa: The implementation of the Mokolo-Crocodile Water Augmentation project  is currently underway. Photo: Supplied/Spect Industrial
The Mokolo-Crocodile Water Augmentation project is currently underway. Photo: Supplied/Spect Industrial

He also focused on plans to improve water infrastructure. Specific mention was made of the Mokolo-Crocodile river project – years in the making – which will benefit areas like Modimolle (Nylstroom), Vaalwater, Lephalale, the Matimba power station, the Zeeland power plant and the Grootgeluk Mine.

According to Ramaphosa, government has decided to prioritise steps to ensure that water licence applications are finalised within 90 days after being lodged. No practical detail about how this will be achieved was announced.

Another announcement with zero details on what it actually means is that a new raw water pricing strategy is being developed. Also, a National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency is to be born. No details were included

Opportunities in Africa

Additional funds have been earmarked for maintenance on the N1, N2 and N3.

Government, business and labour have agreed to embark on a massive campaign to buy local products rather than imports. The list of local products to be prioritised will consist of 42 items and may well include agricultural produce, but the 42 products have not been finalised.

Ramaphosa did let slip that edible oils, furniture, fruit concentrates, personal protective equipment and steel products would be included, but the rest of the list currently remains a mystery.

Ramaphosa: AfCFTA was endorsed by 54 of the 55 African Union member states, including South Africa. Photo: Supplied/AU
AfCFTA was endorsed by 54 of the 55 African Union members, including South Africa. Photo: Supplied/AU

An opportunity for the agricultural sector should arise from government’s focus on increasing exports to the rest of Africa. Yet, again, on this issue no practical details were provided by the head of state.

For the umpteenth time, Ramaphosa stated government’s commitment to fundamental economic reform. As ever, though, details were sketchy at best.

There was no reference at all to the labour market reforms the International Monetary Fund referred to as one of the kingpins to be insisted upon in their definition of fundamental economic reform.

Eskom’s woes

Ramaphosa also repeated his mantra that Eskom was making progress in its quest to fix itself, and reiterated that regulations allowing municipalities to buy electricity from independent power producers are imminent.

Ramaphosa: The municipality of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape is expected to be the first to leave the national grid. Photo: SuppliedFood For Mzansi
The municipality of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape is expected to be the first to leave the national grid. Photo: SuppliedFood For Mzansi

The municipality of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape is expected to be the first to leave the national grid.

Despite his insistence that Eskom is progressing so well, Ramaphosa also said that there will be an additional electricity shortfall of 4 000 to 6 000 mW as several of South Africa’s coal power stations reach the end of their lifespan.

  • Jan-Jan Joubert is an experienced political journalist and writer who has covered the South African parliament from the press gallery since 2001. His latest book, Will South Africa be ok?, tackles the state of South African politics since the 2019 elections.
Share196Tweet123Send
Previous Post

Valentine’s Day: Farmers’ real-life love stories

Next Post

This week in agri: 15 to 21 February 2021

foodformzansi

foodformzansi

Related Posts

Judith Wilson, commercial director for the South African Sugar Association (SASA) dies at the age of 45. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Sugar industry mourns death of master plan visionary

by Duncan Masiwa
18th August 2022
0

The South African Sugar Association (SASA) says it mourns the death of Judith Wilson, a key player in the drafting...

John Deere launches redesigned ADT in South Africa. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

John Deere launches new ADT in Mzansi

by Noluthando Ngcakani
18th August 2022
0

The new John Deere 460E-11 dump truck is a beast that is built for the long haul. It includes three...

Afrivet takes EC pig project to world stage

Afrivet takes EC pig project to world stage

by Nicole Ludolph
18th August 2022
0

ADVERTORIAL: Mzansi’s pig veterinarians attended the International Pig Vet Society Congress 2022 in Brazil. Afrivet’s Dr Caryn Shacklock delivered a...

The future holds lower margins for farmers in both the field crop and livestock industry, according to a new report. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer profits could drop in turbulent future

by Duncan Masiwa
18th August 2022
0

It’s official. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy says the stellar agricultural performance of the past two years is...

Next Post
agriculture

This week in agri: 15 to 21 February 2021

The future holds lower margins for farmers in both the field crop and livestock industry, according to a new report. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
News

Farmer profits could drop in turbulent future

by Duncan Masiwa
18th August 2022
0

It’s official. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy says the stellar agricultural performance of the past two years is...

Read more
Plant-based meat alternatives are increasingly popular and their producers say their packaging never claims to contain real meat. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Veggie meat clampdown to kick off on Monday

18th August 2022
Nambwale Kalunga, Netafim’s technical advisor in Zambia, Eastern Cape regenerative farmers, Karen, and Roger Galloway, subtropical farmer in Limpopo, Khuliso Madima, and Leona Archary, CEO of the Agricultural Development Agency. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: ‘Precision irrigation helps farmers grow more with less’

17th August 2022
Sun City Resort fights climate change while uplifting community with tree-planting project. Photo: Supplied/Citrus Academy

Fighting climate change, the citrus way

17th August 2022
Seasonal agricultural workers sorting hops after a harvest. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Seasonal farmworkers: ‘We need our UIF money to survive’

17th August 2022

How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

Fighting climate change, the citrus way

ICYMI: MEC lines up municipal support for farmers

Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

Will the world run out of sand?

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 12 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

Sugar industry mourns death of master plan visionary

John Deere launches new ADT in Mzansi

Afrivet takes EC pig project to world stage

Farmer profits could drop in turbulent future

Veggie meat clampdown to kick off on Monday

Podcast: ‘Precision irrigation helps farmers grow more with less’

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.