Question NW726 to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesQUESTION
10 April 2017 - NW726
Steyn, Ms A to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesQUESTION
(1) What is the (a) total amount that his department spent on combating the fall armyworm (FAW), (b) breakdown of the expenditure on each item and (c) departmental (sub) programme from which the money was disbursed; (2) (a) what is the total number of small scale and subsistence and (b) commercial farmers/beneficiaries affected by the FAW who have received support from his department in each (i) province and (ii) district and (c) in each case, (i) what support have these farmers received and (ii) at what cost?
Reply:
(1)(a) Total amount spent by DAFF on combatting FAW to date is R88 500.
(1)(b) Sub programme: Plant Production and Health (policy) Directorate Plant Health:
Scouting, visiting farms and addressing extension personnel in provinces: R42000
Attending Portfolio Committee: R12000
Subtotal: R54 000
Subprogram: Inspection and Quarantine Services (operational)
Directorate Food Import Export Standards:
Conduct activities on awareness and education to extension personnel and producers in provinces: R13000
Subtotal: R13000
Directorate Inspection Services:
Visiting farms, taking samples, addressing provinces and extension personnel: R21000
Diagnostic analysis: R500
Subtotal: R21500
Total: R88500
Note: The above excludes costs incurred by provincial departments of agriculture, farmers and industry.
(1)(c) Departmental programme from which the above monies were disbursed is Agricultural Production, Health and Food Safety.
(2) (a),(b) & (c) Since DAFF does not have sufficient budget to cater for unforeseen pest outbreaks, there was no direct financial or pesticide support to farmers from DAFF. We are aware that some Provincial Departments of Agriculture made use of some of the unspent 2016/17 CASP Disaster funds to support producers affected by FAW. DAFF has not received reports back from Provinces on the extent of funding used for that purpose; this will be detailed in the annual CASP reports which provinces will be submitting at the end of the current financial year.
Further, DAFF facilitated the urgent process of pesticide registration for combatting FAW, as well as awareness and technical training for extension personnel to ensure farmers are provided with accurate and technically justified information on registered pesticides for combatting FAW. Accordingly, through the emergency registration procedure, DAFF registered a sufficient variety of agricultural chemicals with different modes of action to allow for proper chemical control of FAW on known hosts and potential hosts.