Transcript PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING 2009

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FOR
STRATEGIC PLANNING 2009
ITCA/MINMEC,
Mpumalanga
17/18 August 2009
Minister’s key Strategic Planning priorities
We are currently facing economic, food security, fuel and climate change
challenges
• A clear categorisation and definition of black emerging farmers and
the products and services required by each category is required:
• Subsistence - (starter packs, including protein source,
chickens)
• Smallholders - (mostly emerging and need a graduating path)
• Commercial farmers – (need statistics on number of black
commercial farmers)
• The current support systems do not cater adequately for black
emerging farmers, thus the need to address the following:
• How should black farmers be funded?
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Minister’s key Strategic Planning priorities
• All legislation should be reviewed, revived and revitalised from a
transformation perspective
• Land and Agrarian Reform needs to be placed into an Act
Markets
• NAMC role changed and 1997 deregulation left emerging farmers
without empowering marketing support - what should be done to
rectify this?
Research & Technology Development is under funded and funds were
taken away from ARC and OBP - need investment
Information
• Statistics inadequate
• Extension Recovery
• ICT is not used fully or effectively
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Minister’s key Strategic Planning priorities
Natural resources
• Increase Land Care
• Water – escalate agricultural water rights at DWA
• Land reform has been isolated
Finance
• Land Bank was never a development bank, access easy, but interest
rates high
• The Agricultural Credit Board provided last resort lending, but was
closed down
• Role of commercial banks
What structure is required as the current national structure is top heavy,
roles not all clear and does not follow the competencies required?
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Guiding documents since 1995
1995
1995
2001
2002
2004
2006
2008
2008
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BATAT
White Paper on Agriculture
Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture (President)
Integrated Food Security Strategy (Cabinet)
Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (DoA)
DoA – DLA Leadership Alignment Process
5-Year Review of Sector Plan
Land and Agrarian Reform Project
Broadening Access to Agriculture Thrust
(BATAT)
An analysis of the last 15 years DoA Annual Reports and Budgets
reveals that initiatives of transformation are notably seated in the
Broadening of Access to Agriculture thrust (BATAT), developed as an
initiative of MINMEC and which:
• recognised different roles of national and provincial departments
• focused on broadening access to those who lacked it previously
• A team was appointed to assess needs and design appropriate:
• Financial services
• Human resource development
• Technology development
• Delivery systems
• Marketing, and
• Agribusiness activities
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BATAT findings
• Delivery system is key
• Priorities were:
• The training of farmers & extension officers, also
• Institutional reform, and
• information systems
• This required the reorientation of institutions to smallholder needs
• Twinning of new players with experienced
• Exposure visits to smallholder farming outside SA
• Dedicated communication strategy and
• A review of legislation
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BATAT Way Forward
Principles
• Change the negative attitude towards agriculture
• Govt marketing interventions to be directed at cause not symptoms
• State to compensate for high initial costs of developing the smallholder
sector
Conclusion
National and provincial Depts of Agriculture must:
• develop the potential for small- and mediumholder agriculture
• Bring about market reorientation in this regard
• Participatory research and technology development, and
• Improve the role of agriculture
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
Urgent Matters Needing Attention:
To ensure national and household food security;
aggressive pursuance of sustainable productivity;
Impact of Energy availability/ access and affordability on Agriculture
Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and farmer resilience;
economic sustainability of strategic initiatives;
enhanced bio security (e.g. improved sanitary and phyto-sanitary
systems);
accelerated land reform; and
comprehensive support services to agriculture.
Developing a viable model for Production of Small Scale farmers
Participation of vulnerable groups in the sector
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LARP Principles
LARP creates a partnered delivery paradigm for agricultural and other support
services based upon the concept of “One-Stop Shop” service centres
located close to land reform beneficiaries, its principles are:
• Concentrate on focus areas (farm dwellers, corridors, commodities etc)
• Aligned comprehensive support
• Cooperative government (joint planning, budgeting, approval &
implementation)
• Decentralised implementation to lowest level
• Partnerships for delivery
• Sustainable individual project success
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Provisional DAFF Focus Areas
Twelve key areas for refocusing the department to more effectively meet the
new strategic priorities and broader mandate of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries:
1. Corporate Services
 Governance and registry
2. Finance
 Agricultural development finance, subsistence, AgriBEE & Land Bank
3. Relationships, Partnerships and Communication
 Domestic, continental and international
4. Trade, Marketing and Economics
 Including domestic, continental and international trade
5. Production
 Land, water sea
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Provisional DAFF Focus Areas
6. Food Safety and Bio-Security
 Focus on emerging farmer needs
7. Policy and Planning
 Technical development
 Research (fund/capacity)
 Where to place Statistics, ICT and Information???
8. Monitoring and Evaluation
9. Natural Resources
 Land & Water use, climate change
10. [Forestry - covered in DTT integration. How to deal with provincial forestry
offices?]
11. [Fisheries – under review & covered in DTT integration]
12. Transformation
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 AgriBEE, Agro-processing, Entrepreneurial Development, gender &
youth
Thank you
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Areas covered by BATAT
Marketing
• training of farmers in the role of markets,
• policy, legislation and regulations
• Smallholder representation on statutory bodies
• Facilitation of added value agribusinesses and SME development
Financial Services
• New AFAP more market related – private financial intermediaries more
important
• Proposal for Council on Financial Assistance (HODs) to coordinate
assistance policy not infringing on PDAs powers
• Credit, focused on small farmers provided by financial intermediaries
• Farmer Support Programme to provide non-financial support
• Graduation Farmer Support Scheme – independence of state
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• M&E
Areas covered by BATAT
Technology Development Pathway
• Participatory (new clients needs and indigenous knowledge)
• PDAs found traditional approach to research was not conducive to
transformation
• Lack of policy and strategic management at institutions
• Ineffective liaison between research bodies and with their clients
• Recommended a national research strategy be formulated
• Technology Development Pathway be designed to balance basic,
diagnostic, applied and adaptive research
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Areas covered by BATAT
Delivery Systems
• Key to transformation
• Coordination at local level with participation of local structures and farmer
groups
• Regular and efficient advice through a group approach
• Single-line command structure for extension staff
• Regular training of extension staff and liaison between them
• Government to collect information on status and profile of black farmers
• Information system to disseminate and collect information
Human Resource Development
• Priority to training of farmers, farm workers and extension agents
• Reorient management to smallholder and mediumholder agriculture
• Move away from training for employment to training for production
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BATAT Way Forward
Lead Programmes
• Development of disadvantaged farmer associations
• Addressing problems of agricultural colleges
• Nurturing the land
• Reorientation traiing of agric extension staff
• State guarantee scheme for smallholder scheme
• Non-credit based Farmer Support Programme
• Human Resource Development Programme
• Develop simple basic Agricultural Glossary
• Farmer training programme for emergent commercial farmers close to home
• Increasing market awareness
• Master Plan for technology development
• Financial assistance pilot projects
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
• continual dialogue and exchange theoretical and ideological perspectives
• endorse an effective partnership approach & avoid duplicate efforts
• establish a permanent Sector Strategy Implementation body
• develop a Sector Strategy Implementation Plan with clear achievable annual
milestones and deliverables
• Subject Sector Strategy to biennial assessments
• Conduct comprehensive land audit
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
• Institute a comprehensive and fully funded land transfer programme via
LARP
• Restructure delivery of support services to farmers- rely on joint publicprivate initiatives
• Recovery and co-ordination of extension services (in its broader sense)
should be undertaken as a joint Public Private Partnership (PPP).
• Capacitate Government agricultural agencies
• Link young graduates to facilitate the entry of young individuals into
agriculture
• Government should institute an internationally benchmarked investment
programme in public infrastructure
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
• Introduce Departmental Cluster System which will deliver on the
recommendation
• expand the scope of the Strategic Plan and contingency planning to SADC
regional partners
• The revised Agricultural Trade and Tariff Policy should be aggressively
implemented
• Improve market access at international, national, local, and support informal
markets
• Government and Private sector should increase Research and Development
Funding to international bench marks
• Urgent attention to functioning of the Registrar of Agricultural Products.
• Improve participation at standard setting bodies and monitoring Sanitary and
Phytosanitary measures instituted by other member countries
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
• Sector stakeholders to utilise statutory levy funding for empowerment,
research, market development, information and consumer education
• The NAMC to conduct an annual review of the implementation of all projects
funded by the statutory Levies
• Implement recommendations of Review of the Marketing of Agricultural
Products
• Articulate economic, natural resource and social sustainability implications in
all new strategic agricultural projects
• Develop system to provide comprehensive information on South Africa’s
natural resource status, livestock numbers, land reform transfers and labour
in agriculture
• Systematic census on small scale farming
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Agricultural Sector Plan 5-yr Review
Recommendations
• Implement management and funding of each of the Sector Strategy priority
programmes
• Government should commit resources and consider hiring in professional
management, including private sector, retired executives locally and
internationally, to run these
• Additional funding should be sourced to improve human capital development
and skills in the sector
• ensure sound labour practices in the sector:
• Improve Crime Prevention
• Amend the old Sector Plan after the review process has been completed
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Glossary
BATAT- Broadening Access to Agriculture Thrust
DAFF – Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
DoA – Department of Agriculture
DLA – Department of Land Affairs
DTT – Departmental Task Teams
SMEs - Small and medium scale enterprises
AFAP- Agricultural Finance Assistance Programme
HOD- Head of Department
OBP – Onderstepoort Biological Products
PDAs- Provincial Departments of Agriculture
NAMC – National Agricultural Marketing Council
SADC – Southern African Development Community
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