National African Farmers Union of South Africa

1. National African Farmers Union of South Africa Food Security in South Africa

2. Presentation Agenda Introduction Food Security and South African Agriculture The Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS) Enabling Emerging Black Farmers Conclusion

3. Introduction NAFU believes that it will play a significant role in the Government’s drive to eradicate food insecurity amongst the poor in South Africa Although sophisticated interventions at macro-economic level are undoubtedly critical to sustainable maintenance of food security in South Africa NAFU believes that broadening the availability of food producing skills at the very lowest levels is the foundational starting point of the entire process. Black farmers who have the ability to play in the basic foodstuff space are finding it increasingly difficult to gain a foothold in the sector. At the same time current commercial farmers are diversifying into non-basic foodstuffs as well as non-foodstuff agricultural products and concentrating on exports. This does not make local food more affordable – It has the opposite effect. We are convinced of the relevance of the emerging Black farmer in the issue of achieving food security in South Africa and we must find ways of promoting their effective participation

4. Food Security and South African Agriculture NAFU fully supports the stated objectives of the Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture – We do not believe however that the plan is comprehensive with regard to promoting food security at a grassroots level There is a common misperception that promotion of commercial agriculture represents achieving food security – it does not. Food security is achieved when the appropriate portion of effort, land and other resources is aimed at producing affordable food for local consumption. The Sector Plan does not spell out how this balance between high-end agricultural activity/produce and basic foodstuffs will be achieved

5. The Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS) • IFSS objectives/challenges: • Increased domestic food production through support services to farmers • Facilitation of regional trade in food items • Improve livelihoods through agriculture based income generation • Improve food safety and nutritional status of food-insecure South Africans • Improve food safety nets and food emergency management systems • Set up a comprehensive system of information management in order to improve policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the IFSS The above cannot be achieved or maintained while the majority of the South African farming community is not enabled to make a valuable contribution to food production – Enabled Black farmers represent a critical building block in the foundation of a food secure South Africa. In essence this means that Black farmers need facilitated access to Land, Agricultural Skills, Food Production opportunities and Consumer Markets

6. Enabling Emerging Black Farmers I LRAD, the ultimate implementation of the Communal Land Bill as well as increased access to development funding will alleviate the lack of access to land being experienced by the Black farming community Viable and profitable food production was created by ensuring a very favorable financial environment for White farmers by the previous government. Eradicating the backlog hampering Black farmers from achieving commercial viability requires preferential financial conditions as well. Preferential treatment for emerging farmers must be linked to food production and performance criteria appropriate to their specific environment. NAFU believes that assisted rehabilitation of the debts of emerging Black farmers should be given high priority – This programme must be underpinned by a mechanism to ensure sustainable commercial viability of those affected There is no strong institutional support for migrating Black subsistence farmers to commercialy viability food producers– With appropriate structures NAFU will be able to deliver this support

7. Enabling Emerging Black Farmers II Appropriate infrastructure will enable the emerging Black farmers to deliver foodstuffs more efficiently to consumer areas most affected by shortages – This entails enabling farming activities closer to the poor communities Increased access to water for emerging Black farmers is crucial if viable and sustainable food production is to be achieved Black farmers will however be set up to fail if the transfer of land and access to farming opportunities is not strongly supported by a constructive and sustainable transfer of agricultural production and management skills The mechanisms that allow farmers access to markets must be reviewed with the objective of making it possible for emerging farmers to compete (or collaborate) with commercial operations. Incentives aimed at promoting collaboration between emerging and existing food producers needs further investigation NAFU believes that emerging commercial agricultural development must enjoy increasing priority in broader development strategies

8. Enabling Emerging Black Farmers III Imposition of unstructured and ill-informed Land Tax by municipal authorities will make it impossible for emerging farmers to get started. Land tax is an input cost that should be deferred for specified periods as incentives to emerging Black farmers. Creation of reliable and affordable pre-production support and supply chain mechanisms for Black farmers must be regarded as high priority enablers

9. Conclusion The drive for export of non basic foodstuff agricultural goods is good for the South African economy but impacts negatively on the availability of food producing capacity in South Africa There are a multitude of sincere and well researched plans that describe WHAT must be done to achieve food security. None of the plans sets out in detail HOW this will be achieved. NAFU is an organisation that represents an ideal platform for facilitating the delivery of these plans The process dynamics associated with food security management must be comprehensively identified and manifested into a monitoring mechanism that is proactive in recognising risk and implementation of mitigating interventions NAFU is idealy placed as an organisation to facilitate a sustainable National solution between Traditional Leadership values and the demands of competitive modern agricultural NAFU believes that food security for all South Africans by 2015 should be the primary target for the South African agricultural sector. Self sustainable food security for 50% of currently food insecure households must be the target for integrated development initiatives

10. Thank You