Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has rubbished claims that his department’s budget sidelines rural and Black-majority provinces Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisenhas 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 fromuMkhonto weSizweMP 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. Steenhuisensaid 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. 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.
