DAFFOfficial newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

March 2013

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DEPARTMENTAL

SECTOR

DEPARTMENTAL

Tokyo Counsellor of DAFF meeting the GLOBAL G.A.P. Award Winner

Community empowered through LandCare

Wetlands and water management

Mphalaneng project fights starvation

Limpopo farmers benefit through artificial insemination of their cows

DAFF engages stake-holders on vegetables crops strategy

Establishing a viable meat inspection for SA

Monsanto buys Rosetta Green Ltd

DEPARTMENTAL

DEPARTMENTAL

SECTOR

SECTOR

SECTOR

Women and the youth are go-ing to benefit from the support they will be getting from the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA) on their involvement in the agricultural sector. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, at the glit-tering function of the AFASA Women and Youth National Leadership Planning Commis-sion at Saint George Hotel from 11 to 12 February.

Since the establishment of AFA-SA in April 2011, developing farmers have been enjoying a new and powerful voice representing them. AFASA has independently organised this event that directly addresses one of the most press-ing issues in agriculture, especially the question of how to bring women and youth into the sector. This much-needed national dialogue on a sustain-able youth and women emancipation in agriculture came at the right time to ensure that they are supported.

The Minister praised AFASA for com-

By Samuel Kgatla

DAFF to support youth and women in the sector

ing up with a gesture to help encourage women and youth in agriculture. More-over, she said the level of support from stakeholders gives them hope that they

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March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 2

Departmental

Editor Piwe Mbiko (012) 319 6936 piwem@daff.gov.zaReporters Thuli Dube (012) 319 7929 nokuthulad@daff.gov.za Samuel Kgatla (012) 319 7181 samuelk@daff.gov.za Innocent Mhlanga (012) 319 7827 innocentm@daff.gov.za Rony Moremi (012) 319 6622 rincertm@daff.gov.za Samson Mtumana (012) 319 7819 samsonm@daff.gov.za Jamela Nkanyane (012) 319 6958 jamelan@daff.gov.za Percy Sepaela (012) 319 6866 percys@daff.gov.za Mercia Smith (012) 319 6666 mercias@daff.gov.zaSubeditors Lerato Mofokeng (012) 319 7927 leratomof@daff.gov.za Willie de Jager (012) 319 6636 williedj@daff.gov.zaDistribution Pam Sutherland (012) 319 7104 pamsu@daff.gov.za

Website: www.daff.gov.za

DAFFnews is the newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Private Bag X250, PRETORIA 0001. It is published by the Directorate Communication Services, Private Bag X144, PRETORIA 0001.

Opinions expressed in DAFFnews are not necessarily those of the editorial team. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission from the editor.

DAFFnews is printed on triple green paper.

Tokyo Counsellor of DAFF meeting the GLOBALG.A.P. award winnerIn her endeavour to bring valuable opportunities to the South Africans, the DAFF Counsellor Ms Phindiwe Dingile engaged with the 2012 GLOBALG.A.P. Award Winner, Mr Matsumoto (www.farmalliance.net) in Tokyo.

She managed to obtain a commitment for the future collaboration on technol-ogy advancement for the farm managers. They will be collaborating on the follow-ing: Agricultural Production Systems and Information Management. This collabora-tion will be for highly committed farmers who are willing to attend training in order to improve and contribute to the high world standard of safe food production. This technology is intended to expand to reach the broader SADC farmers.

Mr Matsumoto will be conducting a feasibility study on South African agri-culture to inform his policy for possible joint ventures with our farmers. Technical visits by South African farmers during the feasibility study are recommended to al-low information sharing and exposure to Japanese technology.

Partnering with Japanese would be advantageous for South Africans in meet-ing Japanese agricultural standards and ensuring easy access of our products to the Japanese markets.

Ms Phindiwe Dingile and Mr Matsumoto in Tokyo.

No. 3 DAFFnews March 2013 3

Departmental

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Petters-son welcomes the continued funding and support for employment projects relating to fisheries and increased support to smallholder farmers.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gord-han, articulated these pronouncements during the 2013 Budget Speech.

Currently, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries supports smallholder farmers through the Comprehensive Ag-ricultural Support Programme (CASP) for infrastructure-related support and the Mafisa programme for production-related assistance.

The department will be able to enhance its services to include assistance to women and youth cooperatives.

To date, DAFF has been able to mobilise

are not in this alone.“The future of agriculture in our country

is sitting in the hands of people who real-ise that the future of agriculture is in the hands of generations. Government has developed and implemented policies on gender equity, all of which aim at ensuring that women and youth in particular are programmatically brought into the main- stream of the economy. Government has further established national institutions whose mandate is to ensure that there are targeted programmes for the development of youth and women. These institutions in-clude the Department of Children, Women and People with Disabilities, the Gender Commission, the National Youth Service and others,” she said.

In conclusion, she said that the youth

perceive people participating in agricul-ture as being uneducated, unskilled, physi-cal labour and low economic returns. She also reiterated that the youth are seen as an ideal catalyst to change the poor image because of their greater propensity and willingness to adapt to new ideas, concepts and technology. Lastly, she ensured every-one that DAFF will continue to encourage and support both women and the youth to participate in agriculture.

Among the key issues debated at the Commissions were:

how to capacitate the youth and •women to become future leaders in agriculture; support mechanisms required to •ensure meaningful and maximum participation of youth and women in

agribusiness; and opportunities for women and the •youth in the agricultural sector.

Youth Commissions also debated on the ruling party’s policy proposals on the youth employment support and incentive schemes.

Meanwhile, the President of AFASA, Mr Mike Mlengana, said their association believes that women and the youth have a pivotal role to play in the fight against poverty and unemployment in our country. He further said that in order for them to win the battle for food security and sustain-ability of the agricultural sector, they need to facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for women and the youth to play a meaningful role in the growth and development of the sector.

DAFF to support youth and women in the sectorfrom p 1

12 280 women into 489 cooperatives. A further 591 young farmers have been mobilised into 37 cooperatives to take ad-vantage of economies of scale. Thirty-three women dominated cooperatives have benefited from CASP to the amount of R7 mil-lion and youth coopera-tives were also supported through CASP to the tune of R826 000.

“Today’s speech demon-strates that our government is serious about eradicating the challenges of unemploy-ment, inequality and poverty alleviation. The National Development Plan has identified

Minister welcomes support for fisheries and smallholder farmers

the potential of agriculture to create a mil-lion jobs. The message, in the fisheries and agriculture sectors are very welcome and will enable us to extend our programmes and to enhance the work we have started.”

March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 4

Departmental

By Shobathe Mohlahlana

Wonga Manzi alien plant removal project is a LandCare community project in Gauteng Province funded by DAFF for a two-year period.

The project started in the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 and 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 and the budget was R1 907 500 in 2010/2011 financial and R1 900 000 in 2011/2012 financial year. The activities undertaken are the removal of alien plants by using the following meth-ods: Cut stump, frilling and foliar spray. More than fifty beneficiaries are benefiting from the project.

Impact of the project on benefici-aries:

Four members of the team started their own SMME by taking down problem trees and alien trees during weekends in the Ennerdale area upon request of the residents.

A natural turnover of 22% of benefici-aries was experienced and beneficiaries enter into better employment opportunities in the formal sector.

The wood resources were available for the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries were exposed to nu-merous training interventions. Person days training came to 450 person days training improving livelihoods of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries were exposed to chain-saw operating skills, herbicide application, store keeping, HIV and Aids awareness, first aid, health and safety, project man-agement, leadership skills, the developing of reports and reporting structures such as team leaders, supervisors, contractors and project managers. The beneficiaries were also exposed to financial management, storekeeping and minute taking. The EPWP phase 1 and 2 was used to implement this project with a dual purpose, namely to create jobs, transfer skills and improve the state of the natural resources by removing alien invasive plants.

The impact of the project on the economy and the community at large:

The team exposed and reported a stock theft syndicate to the SAPS during their clearing operations.

By clearing the alien invasive plants near townships and informal settlements, criminal activities were reduced, e.g. cable theft, vehicle chop shops, rape, robbery and hijacking.

The team recently applied first aid to a hijack victim, which was lifesaving and informed the ambulance service and police.

The wood resources are available to the informal settlements next to the project site, which resulted in numerous informal wood-trading businesses.

The project reduced unemployment and facilitated skills development in the community and among the beneficiaries of Ennerdale, Lawley and Lenasia.

A change of mind set of the community members took place about the issue of natural resource management owing to

Community empowered through LandCare

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No. 3 DAFFnews March 2013 5

Departmental

the implementation of this programme. Impact on the natural resourc-es before the intervention took place:

Water security was under threat because of alien invasive plants utilising scarce water resources in the dolomitic cavity areas used by Rand Water as a water resource.

The agricultural capacity (carrying ca-pacity LSU/ha) was negatively affected by alien invasive plants covering 50% to 70% of the target area.

Alien invasive plants were not controlled and covered more than 50% to 70% of the target area.

The biodiversity in the area was under threat because of the competition by invasive alien plants, especially bluegum and wattle.

Impact on natural resources after the intervention:

A contribution was made towards water security by gaining control over invasive alien plants on the water-containing dolo-mitic compartments.

A contribution was made towards restor-ing the agricultural capacity, improving the carrying capacity and accessibility to natural grazing by livestock.

The physical benefits of the removal of alien plants were derived.

An opportunity was created to promote the appropriate use of agricultural land that was cleared

The biodiversity was restored and pro-tected by reducing the competition of alien invasive plants (bluegum and wattle).

from p 4

By clearing the alien invasive plants near townships and informal settlements, criminal activities were reduced e.g. cable theft, vehicle chop shops, rape, robbery and hijacking.

The project reduced un-employment and facilitated skills development in the community and among the beneficiaries of Ennerdale, Lawley and Lenasia.

March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 6

Departmental

The Department of Environmental Af-fairs commemorated World Wetlands Day with the community of Kareedouw in Koukamma Local Municipality. This year ’s theme was “Wetlands and water management” with the slogan “Wetlands take care of water”. This day marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance at the Iranian City of Ramsar, on 2 February 1971.

The Deputy Minister of Environmen-tal Affairs, Rejoice Mabhudafhasi, the Mayor of Cacadu District Municipality, Councillor Khunjuzwa Kekana and other delegates from her department visited the Churchill Dam Treatment Plant and the Kareedouw Rehabilitated Wetland. Dur-ing the site visits, the Deputy Minister and the delegates were inducted to the water treatment system at the Churchill Dam, as well as progress on the rehabilitation of the Kromme River Wetland.

Japie Buckle from the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) provided further insight in this important function of wetlands as a source of water and mitigation against floods. He said that the palmiet plant which is found only in areas with fynbos and in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) breaks down the speed of water during floods and traps peat, therefore releasing water slowly into the catchment through to Churchill Dam. The plant also helps to improve water quantity and quality. He also said that the Kromme River Wetland is a high energy system and has peat which has been ac-cumulated over 15 000 years. He added that very few wetlands produce peat.

Peat is an accumulation of decayed vegetation formed in wetlands. It helps to store large volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through peat ac-cumulation.

She said the World Wetlands Com-memoration’s aim is to educate and share ideas with communities on conserving and

taking care of wetlands. She encouraged the community to acquire indigenous knowledge from the elders on how they conserved water and not regard this type of knowledge as old-fashioned.

The United Nations declared 2013 as the International Year for Water Coop-eration, in recognition that there cannot be sustainable development and human health and well-being without water. The Deputy Minister informed the community of Kareedouw that her department has selected the Kromme River catchment after the disastrous floods experienced in 2006, which resulted in the loss of lives, as well as extensive damage to property. The Kromme catchment is an important source of water in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality supplying 40% of water via the Churchill Dam.

The catchment is a significant point of an example of wetland degradation based on the fact that it previously con-

tained some of the largest wetlands in South Africa, but currently, it is estimated that 60% of the valley floor peat has been lost over the last century because of invasive alien vegetation, such as the black wattle. However, in 1996 the de-partment started the Working for Water Programme to remove invasive alien vegetation on the upper catchment up to the Churchill Dam and started the Working for Wetlands Programme to rehabilitate wetlands in the Kromme River Catchment. This work has been able to improve water availability by 32 000 litres day per hectare per dayxxxx23456+. Through the Working for Wetlands Pro-gramme, 60 people from the Joubertina and Kareedow communities have been employed and trained in business, techni-cal and life skills.

Gwendoline Wiesel, who has been employed in the Working for Wetlands

Wetlands and water management

By Rony Moremi

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The Churchill Dam Treatment Plant.

No. 3 DAFFnews March 2013 7

Departmental

Programme for seven years, said that she has learnt the importance of keeping the river catchments clean because they are an important source of water for the community and livestock. She said that she would even do it voluntarily even if she was not paid, reiterating the Deputy Minister’s words that they should not do it solely for money, but should understand the importance of protecting and conserv-ing wetlands. She also said that since they started removing the black wattle,

the Louter River next to Jourbetina looks much cleaner. She had this message for her community, “Do not pollute the water because you depend on it and there are animals that depend on it as well.”

The Deputy Minister encouraged the community to take ownership of their wetlands like members of the Makuleke community members in Limpopo who are actively involved in the preservation and protection of the Makuleke Wetlands which were declared as a Ramsar site, (wetland of importance) in 2007 and is the only

wetland which is co-managed by the com-munity worldwide. She also informed the community that the department was in the process of establishing a Kromme River Catchment Forum composed of all relevant stakeholders who will be responsible for the management of the catchment. She closed by quoting Professor Wangari Mathai, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and an envi-ronmentalist who said, “I have seen rivers that were brown with silt become clean—flowing again, the job is hardly over, but it no longer seems impossible”.

from p 6

Japie Buckle from SANBI explaining to the Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabhudafhasi how the palmiet plant found in Kareedouw rehabilitated wetland works.

Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabhudafhasi and delegates learning more about Churchill Dam.

Rehabilitated Kromme river catchment supplies 40% of Port Elizabeth’s water via Churchill Dam.

March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 8

Provincial

“When hunger and starvation was declared an enemy to mankind by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945, it might not have been thought then that disabled people in remote areas like Balloon Village in the Maruleng Municipality of the Mo-pani District in the Limpopo Province will actively take part in vegetable production and therefore ensuring food security for themselves and fellow villagers.”

The Mphalaneng Project for people with disabilities was started in 2005 by a group of visionary people with disabilities, who wanted to employ their hands as much as they could to improve their living condi-tions, through agricultural activities such as the production of vegetables, ornamental and fruit-tree seedlings to sell to the com-munity. The Department of Health and Social Development made funds available for this noble cause. The Banareng Tradi-tional Authority provided this designated group of society with a space to prove to the world that with the necessary support nothing is impossible. And for that matter, having a disability is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome.

In the beginning, the project did man-age to produce seedlings to the com-munity. However, as time went by, they experienced challenges. They could not manage to get the tree seedlings to the marketing outlet, which is Ofcolaco, about 23 km away from the project. There were also serious challenges concerning vegetable seedlings. Bedding materials to germinate seeds could no longer be eas-ily procured. Water to meet the irrigation requirements also constituted a serious challenge. Water has to be drawn from a dangerous unfenced well, which is far from the project (about 1 km). Pipes from this source to the project are exposed to all types of damage as they are not buried underground. Most of the time water leaks from these pipes owing to damage by live-stock. A shortage of irrigation water and suitable irrigation equipment aggravated

Mphalaneng project fights starvation

By John Mthembi

the situation. However, it did not dampen the people’s aspirations for a better life. Hence this determined designated group of women and men (12 in number) every year celebrate both Disability and World Food Day as declared by the United Na-tions organisation in style—showing the world what they are capable of doing. They produce their own food to fight hunger and starvation despite their physical condition and old age. Given the quality of their produce, one cannot even believe that out of the total 12 members, two of them are in wheelchairs.

Being a designated group of people

in this poverty-stricken village trying to make a difference, no stone should be left unturned in facilitating the achievement of their objectives. These, among others, should include the following:

Provision of an irrigation watersource •within the project premises.Improving the irrigation system.•Facilitation of linkages with markets •for their produce.

People who would like to assist, can do so by contacting the following project representatives:Mr Thomas Mabilo cell: 0734329959Mr Mack Maila cell: 0786293739.

Mphaleneng Project members with disabilities at their seedling fruit trees.

Mphalaneng Project members with disabilities at their vegetable plot.

No. 3 DAFFnews March 2013 9

Provincial

Muyexe, President Zuma’s Comprehen-sive Rural Development Programme’s pilot village is participating in the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). Twenty farmers from Muyexe will benefit from the multifaceted project meant to upgrade emerging farmers’ cattle throughout the coun-try.

According to Dr Khathutshelo Nephawe, the Livestock Research Manager in the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA), the upgrading is done by introducing ge-netically superior cattle through artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET). Professor Lucky Nedambale, the Project Leader from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) concurs with Dr Nephawe. He says: “There are not enough [supe-rior] bulls in the community. So we bring semen from the performance tested bulls and inseminate the cows after synchro-nisation.” Synchronisation is the starting point whereby pregnancy diagnosis and disease tests are conducted before cows are selected and prepared for participa-tion in the programme. At the time of

writing the story, the process was still at the synchronisation stage at Muyexe, which is in Giyani in Mopani District. Sarah Valoyi and Mamayila Chabalala, female farm-ers to benefit from the ART, are optimistic that their herds will be improved. “I will be happy if my cow could con-ceive and produce a quality calf,” indicates Valoyi. “I am delighted like Ms Valoyi. We are expecting good calves from this exercise. I did not hesitate to bring my cows to this project,” says Chabalala. In Vhembe and Capricorn Districts, the AI has been done already. Dr Nephawe says they are focusing on the Nguni breed.

Nevertheless, he states that farmers who want the introduction of genetically superior cattle of other breeds through AI and ET could be assisted. The project’s main objective is to address “low

reproductive rates observed in the commu-nal and emerging farming sectors”. This initiative is a tripartite partnership among the ARC, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Technology In-novation Agency; the funder.

By Samson Mabunda

Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) in collaboration with the Agricul-ture Research Council (ARC) and LIBSA met with farmers at Tshidzini village in Vhembe District to encourage them to keep indigenous chickens.

This came after the research of the of-ficials found that rural communities lack information about the importance of keeping indigenous chickens. Mrs Mil-licent Molalakgotla from the ARC said farming with indigenous chickens could reduce poverty.

She advised that they could be sold to different customers. However, Mo-lalakgotla said, “The chickens need to be placed in a clean environment.” She indicated that the feed must be clean and farmers must count their fowls regularly. She further stated that farmers should take the health of the fowls into consideration. She said indigenous chicken farming could also provide fresh chicken [meat] to the community. LIBSA representative, Mr Tshifhiwa Vhudele said his organisation

assists by providing financial assistance to people who want to start a business. He said LIBSA provided loans to individuals and grants to groups. He then advised farmers to form cooperatives. Vhudele said LIBSA assisted with drawing up busi-ness plans, business registration, getting acertificate and bookkeeping. Local Coun-cillor Malada Tshimangadzo undertook to arrange further meetings and requested land for establishing projects from the traditional leaders.B

By Tintswalo Makhubele

Indigenous chickens are worth keeping

Limpopo farmers benefit through artificial insemination of their cows

Dr Khathutshelo Nephawe

March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 10

The 2nd of February was International World Wetlands Day and this year the theme of the day was ‘Wetlands take care of water. The aim of the day is to draw attetion to wetland habitats and the vital role they play in the environ-ment and the human economy.

Said Ursula Franke, Senior Field Officer for the EWT’s African Crane Conservation Programme: “Worldwide, and especially in South Africa, wetlands are under immense pressure. This habitat is being systemati-cally destroyed by pollution, transforma-tion by human activities, poor farming

The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries through the Di-rectorate: Plant Production (D: PP), especially the Vegetable Crops section, engaged various stakeholders on veg-etable crops to make inputs on the new National Vegetable Crops Strategy.

The purpose of the strategy is to create a broad framework for the development of a prosperous, equitable and profitable vegetable sector that supports the gov-ernment’s commitment towards poverty alleviation, food security, job creation and economic development.

As vegetables are an important compo-nent of a healthy diet and play a crucial role in the economy of the country, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Executive Committee (DEXCO) approached the Directorate: PP to come up with this strategy on vegetable crops to move forward. This led to the section Vegetable Crops producing the first draft of this strategy.

Stakeholders highlighted fragmenta-tion for different reasons, drought and contamination, high production costs

By Samuel Kgatla

DAFF engages stakeholders on Vegetable Crops Strategy

and lack of consultation as the main challenges. However, they suggested interventions such as implementation of effective mentoring, availability of exten-sion officers, the Institutional Development Programme, Infrastructure Development Programme, development and dissemination of information production of vegetable crops, training programmes on veg-etable production, market de-velopment access, disease and pest control measures, and Household Food Gardening Programme. Municipalities, retailers, traders, research organisations and others are seen as the stakeholders who should play pivotal roles.

Thabo Ramashala, Director of D: PP said this is a critical document for the sec-tor, but reiterated that the team responsible for producing the strategy document will meet to consolidate all the inputs made by the stakeholders.

He mentioned that they are going to

strengthen the monitoring and evalua-tion of the document. He continued that implementation on documents has been many people’s weaknesses, but assured that it will not happen with the National Vegetable Crops Strategy.

“We are going to take this seriously, so that we can progress as the sector. Skills development is highly important and we will also look into that. We will consolidate everything and take this document to DEXCO for approval,” he said.

practices and climate change.”In South Africa’s rural areas people

are increasingly relying on wetlands for water provision. Wetlands are able to sustainably provide for humans, livestock and wildlife provided that care is taken to protect the catchments which feed these wetland systems. Poor practices such as ploughing in wetlands and trenching should be avoided at all costs, along with the use of wetlands as dumping grounds for pollution and sewerage.

“Wetlands contribute to the Millennium Development Goals and various relevant

South African environmental plans and policies. They also play a key role as a wildlife habitat, most notably for our crane species. Cranes are highly dependent on wetlands for their survival. All three of our crane species forage in wetlands. Grey crowned cranes, wattled cranes and occasionally Blue Cranes (South Africa’s national bird) breed in wetlands and the most significant threat to these species has been the loss of their wetland habitat through unsustainable use of these important ecosystems,” said Franke.

Wetlands take care of water

Departmental

No. 3 DAFFnews March 2013 11

Sector

The Department of Agriculture, Forest-ry and Fisheries (DAFF) has embarked on the consultative process across the country to establish a viable meat inspection service for South Africa. Owners of abattoirs, stakeholders, including provincial veterinary public health officers and general public with interest in this matter, were broadly invited to participate.

The consultative meeting in Limpopo was held at the Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development on 14 February 2013. The consultation in-tended to explore the recommendations emanating from the outcome of the inter-governmental and industry consultation conducted through Min Tech which began

in October 2012. Among other recom-mendations are: · The possible options for a revised meat inspection service at all abattoirs in the country · The government should take the lead via National Executive Officers as it was in the past. Of these recommendations, DAFF aims to solicit views from all sectors of society to come up with the best model and to standardize the industry.

In comparison with other developed and developing countries including SADC and BRICS where DAFF has undertaken the investigation, almost all governments in those countries, directly handle the meat inspection. Even where agencies are pri-vate, a permanent government employee

is on site on a full time basis to provide an oversight and guaranteed impartiality, according to the report presented to the audience. Dr Wynton Rabolao said par-ticipants should assist the DAFF in policy determination on the future of the meat inspection service in South Africa.

Establishing viable meat inspection for SA

Governments in Africa should consider more favourable agricultural policies to create an enabling environment for agriculture and agribusiness to be globally competitive says Dr John Purchase, CEO of the Agriculture Busi-ness Chamber.

Africa spends over $50 billion a year on food imports and require input from both the public and private sectors to increase the continent’s agricultural output. Prod-ucts imported into Africa include cereals, maize, wheat, rice, dairy products and vegetable oils.

“With all due respect, these are com-modities that we should and could be producing in Africa,” he commented. Agriculture was already the continent’s largest employer, employing 90% of the rural workforce and over 60% of the total labour workforce. It also accounted for 79% of African domestic trade. The po-

tential to grow the industry is significant with large areas of underutilised land. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, only 20% to 30% of potentially arable land was being used for agriculture.

According to Dr Purchase the reasons for the underdeveloped agrofood system in Africa were multiple, but included the force of the various African governments and their policies, lack of disposable in-come which limit local markets, a distorted international trade environment and poor productivity and lack of investment.

“Despite Africa’s huge reliance on ag-riculture for its gross domestic product, nearly 35% on average, only a handful of countries invest 10% of their annual budgets in agricultural development. De-spite the Maputo declaration signed by all heads of state in Africa committing to this target, we just do not see the commitment

that is necessary,” said Dr Purchase.African countries needed to harmo-

nise trade agreements and regulatory legislation on a regional basis to boost the agricultural sector. Also required for industrial growth would be the creation of partnerships throughout the value chain, investment in infrastructure to promote movement between markets, greater ac-cess to energy, increased research and greater value addition to agricultural products.

Some positive developments were be-ing seen in the sector, such as the African Union Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme. Private sector companies that were also showing com-mitment are Standard Bank, Illovo, Tiger Brands and SABMiller. They are moving strongly into African agriculture and agri-business sectors with significant success.

Create favourable agriculture policies

March 2013 DAFFnews No. 3 12

Sector

Depressed milk prices and high grain prices internationally have impacted negatively on milk production growth in many countries. Milk producers in the United States (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) suffer as a result of depressed producer and high grain prices.

In the USA, the producer price declined to R 4,18 per litre in January. The US milk: feed price ratio is currently at 1,58: 1 which is regarded as very low. Further-more, it was reported that cow slaughter-ings in the USA during 2012 were at the highest level in 26 years.

The income of dairy farmers in Northern Ireland will probably decrease by 53% this season and is expected to decrease by 42% in England. The Dairy Trader quoted National Farmers’ Union Chief Economist Phil Bicknell as saying that farmers can-not go on producing at little or no profit indefinitely.

In Australia, farmers recently held a crisis meeting to protest against producer prices that do not cover production cost and

Monsanto Company today announced it has completed the purchase of sub-stantially all of the assets and assump-tion of certain liabilities of Rosetta Green Ltd.

Rosetta Green develops improved plant traits for agriculture using RNA technology. Rosetta Green experts specialise in the identification and usage of unique genes to guide key processes in major crops, including corn, soya beans and cotton. The company was formed in 2010 and is based in Rehovot, Israel, at the heart of one of Israel’s major science centers. The company’s Israel operations will remain intact and all Rosetta Green employees have accepted roles with Monsanto.

“We’re pleased to welcome the Rosetta Green team and look forward to working together on possible new applications of this exciting technology, which comple-ments our existing research platforms,” said Steve Padgette, Ph.D., Monsanto R&D investment lead.

“All of us at Rosetta Green are excited to begin our work with Monsanto,” said Limor Zur-Stoller, Rosetta Green’s Chief Finan-cial Officer. “Israel continues to emerge as a leader in cutting-edge technologies, and this is a great vote of confidence in our research work and scientists.”

Slowdown in interna-tional milk production growth

urged politicians to reform the industry. The unfavourable prices have already resulted in stagnant or very low production growth in many countries.

Milk production in the European Union is expected to remain below 2012 levels at least until spring. With the exception of New Zealand, production growth in Southern Hemisphere countries has also slowed down. The United States Depart-ment of Agriculture predicts production for 2013 at 2012 levels. In importing countries, production grows at too slow a rate to reduce import demand. Accord-ing to MPO economist Dr Koos Coetzee, South African producers are experiencing similar conditions.

The South African milk: feed price ratio is at its lowest level in many years and farmers are battling to make ends meet with stagnant producer prices. He said that the recent announcement of price in-creases from March 2013 will bring some relief, but will probably not be sufficient to encourage higher production.

Monsanto buys Rosetta Green Ltd