Question NW1675 to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
29 September 2020 - NW1675
Steyn, Ms A to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
With reference to her reply to question 1283 on 2 July 2020, (a) what are the reasons why the amounts were not spent as planned and (b)(i) what was the target for each programme and (ii) how did the under expenditure affect each target; (2) what is the current balance of the Agricultural Land Holdings account?
Reply:
(1)(a),(b),(i),(ii) Please refer to the table below
|
Programme |
Amount (Rands) |
|
(b)(i) Specify Targets per prog to which these amounts were allocated |
(b)(ii) Impact of the under-expenditure on each planned target |
|
Programme 5: Land Reform |
R147 600 000 |
Delays are attributable to administrative requirements and the required concurrence from the Minister of Finance which was only obtained in the third week of December 2019. In addition, the Department observed that the infrastructure component in project Business Plans was inflated and thus had to enlist the assistance of Engineers from both former Departments of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) to conduct infrastructure assessments on the approved farms during February and March 2020 in order to avert fruitless and wasteful expenditure |
The target for the Land Development Support programme was to support 162 emerging farmers. |
The under-expenditure led to transfer of funds to fewer projects than the number that was approved during the 2019/2020 Financial Year. |
|
Programme5: Agricultural Land Holdings Account (ALHA) |
R923 000 000 |
|||
|
Programme 1: Administration |
R129 400 000 |
Delays in receiving Minister of Finance’s concurrence to commence with construction of the new national office premises. |
Construction of the new office accommodation |
The impact of delays on the project will result in the project becoming unaffordable for the Department. |
|
Programme 3: Rural Development |
R100 000 000 |
Infrastructure projects in the pipeline were not ready for capital works due to planning and design delays that had to be altered to in line with priority shift towards FPSUs. |
To support 27 Farmer Production Units; To support 122 infrastructure projects; To provide 1979 skills development opportunities provided in rural development initiatives |
Set targets for the fiscal year were achieved. This under expenditure did not affect the targets. |
2. R 1 181 996 601.53