Agriculture in the Western Cape is dominated by the commercial sector consisting of about 9 000 well organised white farmers growing high value crops for the local and export markets, and farming on privately owned land.

In this, the tenth year of our democracy we can now look back and say with confidence that an irretrievable and irrevocable process has started to let those, previously disadvantaged, share in the wealth of land this province and this county have to offer.

Land is and will always be a very emotive issue and it must be dealt with circumspection. That said it is a fact that the ownership of land in this province still does not reflect the population composition of the province. Land and the ownership of land are crucial towards long-term sustainability of our farming community and we must ensure that land and the ownership thereof are addressed in a responsible manner to satisfy the continuous needs of our people.

That said it is not as if the land issue was not addressed. I want to congratulate the Department of Land Affairs for the achievement of transferring close to 38 000 ha in this province over the past two years. The aim is to continue this trend over the next two years.

We will however be extremely irresponsible to simply dish out valuable land and not empower people to farm with knowledge in the certainty that they are properly capacitated. We have - also in this province land which is not managed properly and various reasons can be given but amongst others bad or mismanagement but certainly the most important factor is that people were given land who simply do not have the necessary skills and knowledge to farm properly.

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture has a responsibility towards the thousands of beneficiaries of the land transfers. Whereas the national Department of Land Affairs is responsible to acquire land, my department, the provincial department of Agriculture is responsible to capacitate those farmers. Due to problems which have arose in the past my department have created a Farmer Support and Development (FSD) programme and this programme is decentralising and will have offices in all the district municipalities, including the City of Cape Town - taking the services to the people and working with other partners towards the implementation of successful agricultural development projects. The mandate of this programme is: The Provision of extension, support and facilitation of training to farmers, with special emphasis on developing of emerging farmers, implementation of land reform programmes and agricultural rural development projects.

The Department of Agriculture's land reform programme as packaged within the Programme of Farmer Support and Development epitomizes the promise of iKapa elihlumayo: dignity, equity and prosperity. Ownership of land and the ability to farm on it gives to the many beneficiaries of LRAD and other land reform related projects a true sense of dignity and a key to future prosperity. Douglas Gerrold reinforces this by saying: "He who owns the soil, owns up to the sky."

The close to R70 million allotted to this effort in my Department illustrates the levels of commitment of this government to further the process of land reform and to assist emerging farmers. Some food for thought:
1. 109 projects with emerging farmers in the Province for about R 33 million (includes CASP fund)
2. Of the 109 projects, about 70% is LRAD projects
3. 28 food security projects, mainly in the City of Cape Town
4. Additional posts were created, and within this year 63 posts will be filled.

Only through orderly but progressive land reform will we be able to right the historic wrongs connected to ownership. In the Western Cape we are particularly proud of the improved relationships in almost all of our farming communities.

Land Reform can and will only be successful if:
· We acknowledge and respect the rights of commercial farmers to farm as they still form the backbone of agriculture in this province and South Africa.
· We acknowledge the need for the transfer of land to previously disadvantaged people and if we capacitate and assist them to become rightful commercial farmers on their own.
· We nurture, consolidate and appreciate the partnership that exists between commercial farmers, emerging farmers and government in this process.
· With reference to the above I cannot emphasize enough that the role of mentorships in this whole process is an extremely important one and even in this area we have commercial farmers who assist our emerging farmers not only with advise but also with implements and sometimes with labour. It is, especially in this province, a voluntary and wonderful tool which greatly assist our farmers and which is appreciated.

As the premier said " We are fixing the plane as we are flying across the Province"

I am however proud of what we achieved in this province thus far and remain committed to the process of orderly and properly managed land reform in this province.

I now hand over to the Department of Land Affairs to brief you on the status of land reform in this province.

Enquiries: Alie vanJaarsveld
082 777 7262