Dialogue needed over farming goals
WHILE the KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture and Rural Development Department was lauded for reviewing its policies, a farming union has alleged a lack of consultation of stakeholders by the department.
The National African Farmers Union (Nafu) said the lack of consultation could endanger the noble goals of improving agriculture in the province.
“As long we are not part of the policy formulation, we don’t think it will be a success. Whatever policy is developed, it must have consultation,” said KwaZulu-Natal Nafu president Mandla Buthelezi.
Buthelezi made the comments after MEC Themba Mthembu unveiled the policy changes by the department. Some of these include the use of oxen for ploughing purposes as well as breeding oxen, donkeys and mules.
The department wants to see livestock development in the 2017-18 financial year receive a fair share of the budget, as opposed to past years when there was a budget bias towards crop production.
The department also intends reviving the seed and mechanisation programme, which ran into problems owing to overbudgeting and irregularities.
It also plans to revive dip tanks, the fencing of grazing lands in villages and establish nurseries.
Part of the plan is to merge public entities Mjindi Farming and Agribusiness Development Agency to focus on commercial farmers, while the department will focus on subsistence farmers.
These policy shifts were made after a strategic planning session.
Buthelezi said the farmers, as stakeholders, should have been involved in the exercise in light of shortcoming in some of the department’s programmes, such as seeds and mechanisation.
“We could have made valuable contribution to mechanisation which is characterised by red tape,” he said.
“We as organised agriculture believe it is critical when policies are developed that we are involved. We don’t want a situation where we rubber-stamp issues. It is unfortunate that government does things in its own way,” Buthelezi said.
DA KZN legislature member Sizwe Mchunu, said policy matters required sober engagement at the portfolio committee level.
He said that although the legislature was “ambiguously” notified about the merger of Mjindi and Agribusiness Development Agency, there was a need for the committee to play its oversight role.
“It does raise a concern if the MEC goes to the administration and undermines the portfolio committee on these issues. I would want to see the resolutions of that strategic planning session in its entirety,” Mchunu said.
Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, the agriculture and rural development portfolio committee chairwoman, said they had been informed about the planning session, but they could not be part of it since they played an oversight role.
“Once developed, we expect policies to be officially presented to the committee so that we can hold them accountable,” Simelane-Zulu said, adding that the department was expected to make the presentation early next year.
However, she said they would be happy if the policy addressed issues of radical economic transformation.
“We expect agriculture to take the lead. If their policy takes that into account, we are to support it as the legislature,” Simelane-Zulu said.
Department spokesman Khaye Nkwanyana said Nafu and other associations would be consulted next year.
“He (the MEC) is to meet them by sectors from commercial, small scale and communal farmers,” he said.