Steenhuisen denies claims of budget bias against rural provinces and black farmers
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has rubbished claims that his department’s budget sidelines rural and Black-majority provinces
Image: File Phando Jikelo / Parliament of RSA
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has rubbished claims that his department’s budget sidelines rural and Black-majority provinces or excludes Black farmers from South Africa’s agricultural future.
Steenhuisen was responding to a parliamentary question from uMkhonto weSizwe MP Thulani Gamede, who raised concerns that the Eastern Cape’s agro-processing programme was reportedly allocated just R6 million compared with over R197 million for high-tech projects at elite institutions.
Steenhuisen said the Department has not found evidence that its budget excludes rural provinces or Black farmers. He highlighted that several programmes are in place to support smallholder and historically disadvantaged farmers, including infrastructure.
"No. The Department has not found that its budget allocations sideline development in rural and black-majority provinces and that it excludes Black farmers or rural provinces from participating as central players in South Africa’s agricultural future," Steenhuisen said.
"The budget for the National Department of Agriculture (NDA) has been designed to advance sectoral transformation and inclusive growth, with explicit attention to integrating smallholder and historically disadvantaged farmers into mainstream agricultural and agro-processing value chains."
He added that the department recognises the duality in agriculture between large-scale commercial producers and small or emerging farmers.
"The NDA recognises the duality in agriculture - large-scale commercial versus small and emerging producers, as explicitly acknowledged in the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP). The AAMP provides a holistic, multi-pronged approach to redressing historical inequality through a combination of financing instruments, technical assistance, infrastructure, and market access."
On the specific figures cited for the Eastern Cape’s agro-processing programme versus high-tech projects at elite institutions, Steenhuisen said the Department of Agriculture has no verified record of such allocations.
"Regarding the specific figures cited (R6 million) for the Eastern Cape agro-processing programme versus R197 million for high-tech projects at elite institutions, the NDA has no verified record of such allocations; as such, it is difficult to make a conclusion that these numbers indicate that development in rural or Black-majority provinces has been sidelined."
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