Honourable Premier Rasool,
Mayor Helen Zille,
Ms Joyene Isaacs Head of the Department of Agriculture,
Members of the Muslim Judicial Council,
Officials of the Department,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Once again it is a wonderful and humbling experience to be the Minister of Agriculture in the Western Cape because this department has the enormous task of fighting the legacy of hundreds of years of oppression in an area where people were deprived of one of the most basic needs in time namely to be able to provide for themselves and their families by cultivating the land. Humbling because one is constantly reminded of your dependence on a higher hand that allows things to grow and your dependence upon the elements that can make or break you.
It is the responsibility of Agriculture to make sure that we develop and grow a sector that will feed the nation on a sustainable basis and to make sure that the food that we produce is providing in the nutrition to keep us healthy.It is however not a task that we can do on our own as we have to find innovative ways of putting the food on the table and at the same time also find partners who understand the need to fight poverty through the programmes of agriculture One of the most important programmes, but at the same time, most probably the most underestimated and underdeveloped program, is food security and the development of the program in the urban areas. We need enable people to supply in their household needs from their own food gardens and we must make use of open spaces at schools and unutilised land that is lying fallow.
This project that we are opening here today is the result of a partnership by people who have the right vision with regard to both the need and the potential of partnerships where government and the community join hands to push back the frontiers of starvation and poverty.
What is this partnership about? I will summarise it briefly, otherwise I will keep you here the whole day as I am overflowing with excitement and joy about the project.
The Department will provide its expertise regarding vegetable production to the MJC and farmers in the Phillippi area. The Department will further execute research trials of importance to farmers in the Phillippi area (based on a participatory planning process between farmers and the three parties) on the trial site and will be willing to conduct training courses in this respect.
The Cape Institute will offer technical production training for Agricultural Training, whilst market access training including technical access requirements will be conducted by the South African Agri Academy.
The content of the training courses and the selection of candidates for the training will be determined by agreement between the training institution and the MJC.
The number of trainees per year will also be determined between the training institution and the MJC.
The MJC is providing the land that we can run the trails on with the necessary resources and infrastructure, such as water and fencing that will be needed for the research experiments and a training facility. Mr Moore who is a local farmer will assist by providing day-to-day technical supervision and inputs towards the sustainability of the trial site, as well as inputs towards the research to be executed within the Phillippi area.
The vegetable trials will be executed within the production blocks of Mr Moore and he will provide water and the vegetable plantlets. In return the Department will annually pay an agreed amount for the water, plantlets and the cost of the vegetables that were harvested for research purposes.
As a Department we are also far advanced in our planning of the establishment of a mechanisation centre to assist small farmers and participants in the project and we will thus provide the necessary implements to assist the program. We are running this project for a three-year period after which we will asses the program and decide on the future of the program.
In conclusion I would like to point out that the official opening of this facility is part of the ongoing delivery program of the department of Agriculture in our effort to empower our people and to make them full participants in the program of creating a home for all in the Western Cape.
Enquiries:
Alie van Jaarsveld
Spokesperson
Ministry of Agriculture: Western Cape
Tel: 021 483 4930
Fax: 021 483 3890
Email: avjaarsv@pgwc.gov.za
