STRATEGIC PLAN FOR SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

1. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE Review July 2008 .

2. BACKGROUND • The Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture -signed by the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs and the Presidents of AgriSA and NAFU SA on 27 November 2001. • The Strategic Plan was a product of the interaction between government and the agricultural sector following • a clear realisation that the profitability and growth of the agricultural sector is under threat • while at the same time the majority of South Africa’s population is still excluded from the mainstream of the agricultural sector. • Under the leadership and instruction of President Mbeki it was decided that a Strategic Plan is needed to address all the ills and concerns in the agriculture sector.

3. OBJECTIVES • Create a common vision fro key stakeholders • Create a strategic framework which guide policy • Address issues undermining investor confidence • Ensure increased access and participation in the sector • Combine, share and optimise resources and benefits among partners • Foster global competitiveness, growth and profitability – to attract investment • Ensure sustainable development • Building lasting partnership – public , private and community stakeholders

4. BACKGROUND • Common vision; • A “United and prosperous agricultural sector”. • Constrained competitiveness and low profitability • Skewed participation • Low investor confidence in Agriculture • Inadequate, ineffective and inefficient support and delivery system • Poor and unsustainable management of natural resources

5. CORE STRATEGIES • Enhance equitable access and participation in the agricultural sector • Improve global competitiveness and profitability • Ensure sustainable resource management

6. Enabling strategies • Good governance • Intergrated and sustainable rural development • Knowledge and innovation • International co-oporation safety and security

7. IMPLEMENTATION • Guiding principles • Implementation • Monitoring and evaluation • Strategic plans of government Departments • Commodity strategies were also compiled • Implementation committee was supposed to have been appointed • Management structure to support the entities • Reporting framework – plan for monitoring and evaluation

8. PRIORITY PROGRAMMES • Broad based safety and security for good working • Fostering shared vision of agriculture • Transforming the agricultural research • Redifining the mandate of agriculture merketing and international trade • Building credible statistical and economic analysis systems , price and income systems and natural disasters • Targeting investment in rural development nodes to provide livelihoods, infrastructure, irrigation, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, training and skills development • Establishing an agricultural co-oporation programme for |Africa to spearhead New Africa Initiative in agriculture • Lower cost of production

9. REVIEW • Need for a review – monitor progress made • The core team that prepared the document included three members from NAFU SA, two members from AgriSA, one member from the Agribusiness chamber and two members from the Department of Agriculture. • Consultant appointed supported by a steering committee • Thick document was produced together with a summary document • Presentation and handover to the Department on the 8th of May 2008 • Summary Report not accepted • Task team appointed • Produce a balanced report

10. TASK TEAM • Worked through a writer – consultant • Met several times and agreed that • A thick document produced • Has important information • Various sectors submitted their views • Resource document • Consultation with Head of Departments on the 12 and 13th of June • Task team I their workshop in June • Agreed that a report should be written • For submission to the Presidency on the 12th of August 2008 • resource document and • Report which highlights progress made

11. PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS • In the post-1994 era, the members of disadvantaged communities community • A claim to be supported to access the Agriculture Sector from which they have been excluded historically. • Members of the established commercial agri- sector • who have a historical head start, express a view that the “shrinking agriculture cake” is not enough to cater for everybody. • As the numbers will inevitably increase as the new entrants from HDI’s swell the ranks in the playing field, the cake will shrink further. In principle they accept the legitimacy of the claim made by the HDI’s to be given support to access the sector.

12. Government • The government , being a developmental state in character, is committed to advancing the development and prosperity of the agriculture sector in general . • The challenge - is how to collectively grow the “agriculture cake” on a sustainable basis so that all players can participate and lay a claim to a fair share . • Female farmer competition • Recent efforts – WARD, YARD • Alignment of functions DoA and DLA

13. GOVERNMENT • Challenges of having to deal with a dualistic agricultural sector (an emerging sector side by side with an established sector) which always seems to create tension in policy design and implementation. • The State should seek to uplift poor and disadvantaged farming communities and to successfully integrate them into mainstream agriculture, • Simultaneously, government cannot neglect the growth prospects for established commercial agriculture • Need to ensure that regulations, systems and support services •  ”Government will for a long time to come continue to have to deal with the dual requirements for its services • Planning and Budget -designed to deal with this dual reality. • Neither side of the dualistic farming spectrum should be neglected

14. REVIEW • The private sector view is that the utilisation of the market force principles should allow performance without constraints in a free economic environment. • The role of the state should be restricted to that of a neutral regulator who should ensure that exploitation and monopolies do not take place. • The state on the other hand asserts that it is a developmental state; a state which has the capacity to lead in the definition of a common national agenda and in mobilising all of society to take part in its implementation; • an activist state that intervenes decisively in the economy with a generally progressive agenda especially where market forces fail; • a state which has effective systems of interaction with all social partners; • a state which exercises leadership informed by its popular mandate.

15. REVIEW • In the review, the parties maintain that the 2001 statement of the Vision remains valid and applicable • The Review presented clear evidence that there has been widespread buy-in into the philosophy of the plan with generally good intentions amongst all stakeholders and government departments. • The notions of Unity, Cohesion, Nation Building, Reconstruction and Transformation of the economy and society in general permeate the discourse and literature of the partners. • Some of the unity initiatives included the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between NAFUSA and AGRISA which were intended to guide the parties’ conduct relative to each other.

16. REVIEW • True Unity in Diversity finds expression and manifestation in the commitment of partners to joint action while maintaining independent identities and realising different but complementary interests. • The review will also examine whether unity and cohesion manifests itself in the actions of practical implementation of the tasks related to the three Core Strategies of the plan being:- • Equitable Access and Participation • Global Competitiveness and Profitability • Sustainable Resource Management • Further, the achievement of performance of the above core strategies will be assessed against the set Outcomes of the Sector Plan. • as a beacon which the parties will continue to refer to as they navigate towards the future of agriculture in their respective spheres of

17. INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE

18. White maize and white maize meal price trends

19. CURRENT AGRICULTURAL SITUATION Annual Subsistence Annual Commercial Perennial sugar Perennial Commercial

21. Where Do We Come From (Extreme)Old small houses dis-used (500Birds/Cycle)

22. One of the massified poultry projects

24. Time frames • One week • Melmaro@telkomsa.net • Thank you all