NERPO IS DISSAPPOINTED WITH THE AGRICULTURAL AND LAND REFORM BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR 2010
24 Feb 2010
The Group Managing Director of the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (NERPO), Mr. Aggrey Mahanjana, has expressed displeasure on a significant cut of agricultural and rural development budget allocation for 2010.
“It is disappointing to note that agriculture has once again taken a knock from this year’s budget allocation. Funding for agriculture remains far below the recognized parameters such as those set out in the Maputo declaration of 2004, by NEPAD and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), in which all SADC countries committed to ensuring that the agriculture and food security budget progressively increases to 10% of the national budget between 2004 and 2010” he said.
This year’s budget show a reduction of 6% compared to the budget allocation of the previous year, despite the expanded role that is subsequent to the incorporation of Forestry and Fisheries. The current budgeted expenditure on agriculture accounts for a dismal 0.4% of the national budget.
NERPO have already handed-in to the Minister of Finance, its concerns with regards to the continual reduction of the agricultural budget allocation.
Rural Development and Land Reform has also failed to impress the emerging farmers as it show a marginal increase from R6.4 billion last year to R6.7 billion.
“The allocation for Rural Development and Land Reform is equally disappointing particularly considering the revision of land redistribution targets in which government reported that it projects 60.7% reduction of the initial targets, meaning that government has now projected a transfer of only 283, 593 hectares of the 721,700 that was previously projected, due to financial constraints” Mahanjana added.
Meanwhile NERPO has congratulated government on its consistent position to prioritize public infrastructure. The organization has however made a special plea to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Pravin Gordhan to set aside a portion of the R846 billion that has been budgeted for public infrastructure, to provide adequate maintenance of public infrastructure.
“Financial returns in a commercial run farm lie significantly on whether or not there are proper access roads, water facilities and electricity in your farming enterprise. It must however be noted that government needs to make sure that a certain percentage of its budget is set-aside for adequate maintenance of such infrastructure. If we can achieve that, we would surely contribute to the sustainability and productivity of the agricultural sector,” he said.
NERPO has also noted with delight the R2.5 billion allocated for recapitalization of the Land Bank.
“The decision to recapitalization of the Land Bank shows government commitment to agricultural development. Government should now play a pivotal role in reviewing funding models of the Land Bank, to allow for a more commodity-driven funding as opposed to a blanket approach. It is very important that the Land Bank work very closely with organized commodity associations, as they are better placed with challenges confronting farmers at grass-roots,” he said.
NERPO is the official mouthpiece of the emerging livestock farmers who own about 40% of the country’s livestock but account for less than 5% of the red meat’s total market share. NERPO is determined to ensure that its members become major economic players in the commercial value chain of the red meat industry.
End.
Further Enquiries:
Aggrey Mahanjana
Group Managing Director
Cell : +27 (0) 82 556 7297
Tell : +27 (0) 12 348 8566
Email : gmd@nerpo.org.za
Website: www.nerpo.org.za
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