Farm planning regulation leaves more questions than answers

‘IT JUST ADDS MORE RED TAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN OF REGULATORY DOCUMENTS ALREADY REQUIRED, BUT SELDOM ENFORCED’

The Directorate of Soil Management in the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has called for public comment on its draft Farm Planning Regulation document, aimed at introducing a system of farm plans to prevent the degradation of agricultural land.

Theo Boshoff, head of legal intelligence at Agbiz, said the government initially indicated that land that fell under government programmes would be prioritised, but the published draft stated that the regulation would apply to all land currently in use and that may be used for agricultural production in the future.

If the intention was that the obligations only be applied to the owners of properties who previously received subsidies for soil conservation works, or farmers on state land that had been “prioritised”, the legal document should be amended to clearly state who it applied to and who had obligations under the regulations, he said.

“Those not ‘prioritised’ should be relieved of complying with the regulations as a failure to do so will result in unintended consequences.”

If left unamended, the implication was that land owners or users, especially those supported by government programmes, would need to request the provincial department of agriculture’s local office to issue a farm plan for the property in question.

The plan, amongst other information, should contain details relating to any soil conservation works on the property and a map detailing the presence of any farm roads, watercourses, springs, boreholes and buildings. This should, in turn, be accompanied by a management plan outlining the use of natural resources on the farm, including carrying capacity, size, and composition of livestock herds.

“[However,] government does not have the resources or capacity to enforce the proposed regulations on all landowners or users at once, and it threatens to add just more red tape to the mountain of regulatory documents already required by law, but seldom enforced,” he said.