Seven provinces to benefit from integrated agricultural programme

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson made the announcement during her Budget Vote Speech in Parliament on Tuesday, 11 June 2013.

"In this financial year, the department, together with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR), will implement an accelerated, integrated agricultural production programme in seven provinces," she said.

The provinces which are part of the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Initiative are the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West.

According to the minister the initiative is aimed at supplementing the services rendered by provinces as a direct response to higher levels of household food insecurity in the country.

"Through this initiative, implemented in 2012/13, additional resources were mobilised from different departments across all spheres of Government and as a result over 40,000 hectares of the underutilised agricultural land was put under production during the previous production season, with maize and beans being the main commodities," she said.

The minister said while the results of the initiative will be evident in the forthcoming harvesting season, it has already positively impacted on job creation.

According to the latest Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics SA, the agriculture sector was the largest contributor to job creation over the period January to March 2013.

More interestingly is the provincial breakdown (year-on-year data) which reflected that the Eastern Cape created 45,000 jobs, a 95.7 percent increase; Limpopo 26,000 jobs or 29.5 percent and the Free State 17 000 or 23,.6 percent.

"This was achieved mainly as a result of programmes which formed part of the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Initiative such as the Food Production Support Initiative and the Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme (CASP) that were implemented in these provinces," she said.

With regard to budget allocation, provinces receive around 60 percent of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries budget of R6.178 billion.

The Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme (CASP) has received a total allocation of R1.6 billion in the 2013/14 financial year which will be transferred to provinces and has been ring-fenced as follows; R905.7 million for Infrastructure and production input; R339.9 million for Extension Recovery Plan; R55.3 million for Agricultural Colleges' Infrastructure development and repair; and,R298.959 million for Flood damaged infrastructure.

Ilima/Letsema programme has received a total allocation of R438.4 million to fight poverty through increased food production initiatives.

Together CASP and Ilima/Letsema programmes account for R2 billion (33 percent) of the R6.1 billion allocated to the department.

70 percent of CASP and Ilima/Letsema will be focused towards food production in the 2013/14 financial year.