Questions and Replies

Reply:

1.Whether each Head of Department (HOD) of his department signed a performance agreement since their appointment; if not,

   (a) What is the total number of HODs who have not signed performance agreements?

The Director-General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries was appointed with effect from 1 July 2016. In terms of the chapter four (4) of the Senior Management Service (SMS) members handbook a newly appointed SMS member has got three months to finalise and sign the performance agreement.

    (b) What is the reason in each case?

     The HOD had three months to finalise the performance agreement.

   (c) What action has he taken to rectify the situation?

      None.

  (d) What consequences will the specified HOD face for failing to sign the performance agreements; if so,

(i) When was the last performance assessment of each HOD conducted?

The performance assessment on the former HOD was finalised in December 2015.

(ii) What were the results in each case?

The performance scores of the former HOD were as follows:

• 2013/14 performance cycle score of 132%.
• 2014/15 performance cycle score of 135%.

2. Whether any of the HODs who failed to sign a performance agreement received a performance bonus since their appointment; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,

   (a) At what rate and

       The HOD did not receive a performance bonus.

   (b) What criteria were used to determine the specified rate;

       Not applicable.

3. Whether any of the HODs who signed a performance agreement received a performance bonus since their appointment; if so,

   (a) At what rate and

   The HOD did not receive a performance bonus.

   (b) What criteria were used to determine the rate?

     Not applicable.

 

Reply:

(a)(i) Mr JB Hlatshwayo: Grade 12, Bachelor of Accounting Science (Hons).

    (ii) Not applicable

(b) (i) Mr MM Mlengana: Grade 12, Bachelor of Arts , Higher Diploma in Education, Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Master of Arts (Economics/ Political studies).

(ii) Not applicable

 

Reply:

Yes, the care and protection of animals in South Africa is regulated by two Acts — the Animals Protection Act, 1962 (Act 71 of 1962) (APA) and the Performing Animals Protection Act, 1935 (Act 24 of 1935) (PAPA). A third Act, the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (Act No. 169 of 1993) governs the organization and management of the SPCA movement in South Africa.

DAFF is currently publishing Draft Norms and Standards for the Welfare of Captive Lions under Animals Protection Act, 1962 (Act 71 of 1962) to enforce welfare of captive lions.

Reply:

Currently the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries does not monitor the canned lion hunts but will, after the publication and adoption of the Norms and Standards for Welfare of captive lions, in partnership with the Department of Environmental Affairs, enforce welfare prescripts regarding captive of lions.

Reply:

The care and protection of animals in South Africa is regulated by two Acts — the Animal Protection Act, (APA) 1962 (Act 71 of 1962) (APA) and the Performing Animal Protection Act, (PAPA) 1935 (Act 24 of 1935) (PAPA) under the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) A third Act, the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (Act No. 169 of 1993) governs the organization and management of the SPCA movement in South Africa.

DAFF is publishing Draft Norms and Standards for the Welfare of Captive Lions under Animals Protection Act, 1962 (Act 71 of 1962) to enforce welfare prescripts regarding lions in captivity.

Reply:

(a) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries met with any;

(i)     (aa) No

       (bb) No

        (cc) No

(ii)   Attended any meeting with the specified persons:

      (aa) No

      (bb) No

(aaa) Names of the people present at each meeting:

(bbb)(aaaa) Not applicable

(bbbb) Not applicable

(ccc) What was the purpose of each specified meeting:

Reply: Not applicable

(b) Deputy Minister of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries met with any;

     (i)(aa) No

      (bb) No

       (cc) No

(ii)    Attended any meeting with the specified persons:

       (aa) No

       (bb) No

   (aaa) Names of the people present at each meeting:

   (bbb)(aaaa) Not applicable

   (bbbb) Not applicable

(ccc) What was the purpose of each specified meeting:

       Reply: Not applicable

Reply:

    1.   No

     2.  None

Reply:

DAFF

(a)(i) DAFF spent R1 533 061 on advertising in the 2015/16 financial year and

(b)(i) DAFF budgeted R8 110 100 for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

ARC

The ARC spent R4.5 million on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted R4 million for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

MLRF

The MLRF spent R3 337 315.19 on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted an amount of R5 886 344 for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

PPECB

The PPECB spent R353 066 on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted an amount of R310 000 for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

OBP

The OBP spent R3.5 million on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted an amount of R3.5 million for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

NCERA

The NCERA Farms spent R112-00 on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted an amount of R5 000-00 for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

NAMC

The NAMC spent R99 253.98 on advertising for the 2015/16 financial year and budgeted an amount of R82 992.00 for advertising in the 2016/17 financial year

Reply:

1. a) The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has developed a Framework meant to give direction to all provinces on the implementation of assistance being provided in the event of a disaster occurrence. In terms of that framework, farmers are classified into three categories namely Small scale (farmer who owns 30 or less LSU); Subsistence (farmer who owns 31 to 50 LSUs) and Commercial (farmer who owns 51 and more LSU). Due to the insufficiency of funds to cater for all farmers, they were prioritised by provinces based on the impact of the drought conditions.

   b) According to records at our disposal, farmers assisted to date were as follows: Free State (FS) (3 418), KwaZulu Natal (KZN) (8 300), Limpopo (LP) (22 524), Mpumalanga (MP) (10 670,) North West (NW) (21 383), Northern Cape (NC) (2 108), Gauteng (GP) P (1150), Eastern Cape (EC) (8 025) and Western Cape (WC) (885).

    c) The average amount of assistance differs because it depends on the provincial allocation and the number of farmers to be assisted as well as number of livestock affected.

2. The South African Weather services (SAWS) forecasted normal to below normal rainfall for winter season throughout the country and that indicates that all provinces are still experiencing dry conditions with declarations still in force in all six declared provinces and municipalities in the Eastern and Western Cape. It should also be noted that the recent showers received throughout the country were a relief to the farming communities.

3.No, DAFF has submitted the original requests to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) for further processing to the National Treasury to assist farmers affected by drought throughout the country. While waiting for the response DAFF and provinces have prioritised funds for drought assistance further into the 2016/17 financial year from their grants and equitable share allocations.

Reply:

(1) Yes; all affected provinces have submitted requests for funding to the department. DAFF has submitted the requests to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) for further processing to the National Treasury. The requests have been received from all provinces. Refer to the table below:

PROVINCE	PROVINCIAL FUNDING REQUESTS	REQUEST FOR FUNDING DATES
Free State	R 102 500 000.00	September 2015
Kwa -Zulu Natal	R 142 000 000.00	April 2015
Limpopo	R 105 000 000.00	September 2015
Mpumalanga	R 71 000 000.00	July 2015
North West	R 3 400 000 000.00	August 2015
Northern Cape	R 163 000 000.00	April 2016
Gauteng	R 140 000 000.00	December 2015
Eastern Cape	R 239 100 000.00	December 2015
Western Cape	R 88 000 000.00	March 2016
Total	4 450 600 000.00

(2) No; these request are still being processed by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC).

(3) The breakdown of expenditure for the reprioritised R226 million is tabulated hereunder.

PROVINCE	Total reprioritized CASP	CASP Updated adjustment	CASP Expenditure
Free State	R30 663 000.00	R29 000 000.00	R29 000 000.00
Gauteng	R15 186 000.00	R 12 846 000.00	R 12 800 000.00
KwaZulu Natal	R22 489 000.00	R 45 000 000.00	R 45 000 000.00
Limpopo	R28 391000.00	R 51 000 000.00	R 51 000 000.00
Mpumalanga	R25 610 000.00	R 33 622 000.00	R 33 600 000.00
Northern Cape	R24 748 000.00	R 14 600 000.00	R 14 600 000.00
North West	R37 982 000.00	R 25 000 000.00	R 23 800 000.00
Western Cape	R12 390 000.00	R 6 000 000.00	R 00.00
Eastern Cape	R29 476 000.00	R 40 600 000.00	R 40 600 000.00
Total	R226 935 000.00	R257 668 000.00	R250 400 000.00

(4) There was no further funding requested except in the 2015/16 financial year whereby DAFF and the PDAs made available a total of R257 million through CASP and Illima/ letsema Programmes for emergency drought relief and the R124 million from provincial Equitable Share an additional amount of R63 million was further allocated by the provinces such as Eastern Cape; Kwa Zulu Natal; Limpopo and Free State from their equitable share.

Reply:

Small business and cooperative development function in the department resides within the sub-programme of Cooperatives and Rural Enterprise Development whose mandate is to facilitate and support the development of businesses to ensure transformation of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. This is done by implementing the following support programmes:

1. Cooperative development

1.1 Facilitate establishment of Commodity Based Cooperatives

Through the cooperative development programme, smallholder farmers are clustered into commodity based cooperatives for collective sourcing of inputs and marketing of their products. This intervention is geared towards assisting smallholder farmers maximise their outputs through collective efforts. The commodity based approach results in vertical integration of smallholder producers through their primary cooperatives along the value chain as an approach to improve access to markets, productivity, efficiencies and competitiveness. The result is the creation of enterprises which pool resources (products, savings), to engage in bulk purchasing, wholesaling on behalf of the affiliated producer cooperatives, to reduce transaction costs, to penetrate new markets, to benefit from economies of scale.

Budget: R 4 965 000, 00 has been budgeted for this activity for operational purposes.

1.2 Support cooperatives with training

Supporting cooperatives with training and capacity building aims at transferring entrepreneurial aptitudes of personal motivation, initiative, innovation, problem solving tendencies and risk taking as some of the core elements of entrepreneurship. This strengthens cooperatives and ensures that they are geared towards contributing to Departmental objectives of food security, job creation and economic growth.

In order to improve operational efficiency and managerial agility in cooperatives a number of training and capacity building programmes have been developed and are currently used to support small scale farmer cooperatives. The following are the core support programmes to assist small businesses and cooperatives to build capacity and drive efficiency and all of them are accredited by AgriSETA.

1.2.1 Farmtogether Agricultural Cooperative Training Programme

This intervention is aimed at assisting cooperatives in the sector to integrate into the broader South African context by addressing a range of skills that include governance, business skills and making business choices. Specific intervention areas include record keeping, financial management, conflict management, enterprise evaluation, production planning, making business choices, constitution and other regulatory frameworks.

1.2.2 Business planning development

The business plan guideline is a capacity building tool developed to equip enterprises with skills that will enable them to gain understanding of the agribusiness planning processes. The tool further guide farmers/entrepreneurs to develop his/her own business plan and better understand the business Aids in applying business principles and contributes to best practices. It contains information on the various elements of the business. The tool is comprehensive yet simple and can be used by both farmers and officials.

1.2.3 Agribusiness Appraisal Tool.

This is a diagnostic tool used to determine or identify business strengths and weaknesses and recommend alternative solutions to drive efficiencies in SMME’s and cooperatives in the sector. The main objective is to support cooperatives and other enterprises to achieve excellence in their businesses. Farmers are exposed to conducting self assessment of their enterprises using the tool and in the process assisted to develop action plans to address identified areas of weaknesses while maximising on their strengths.

Budget: R 9728 000, 00 has been budgeted for this activity for operational purposes.

2. Business Development (Incubation)

As part of the department’s efforts to develop businesses in the sector, a Cooperation agreement was entered into between the department (DAFF), Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA). The purpose of this agreement is to provide integrated support interventions through incubation to farmers in the Nwanedi irrigation scheme in Limpopo. Intervention areas targeted include entrepreneurial and technical skills such as development of bankable business plans, linkages to markets, production plans linked to market requirements, linkages to financial institutions, management skills support and mentorship, market conceptualisation, negotiation skills and production processes.

An incubator (Timbali Technology Incubator) has been appointed as the project manager and 50 farmers are participating in the project. Limpopo Department of Agriculture has a responsibility in terms of the agreement to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the farmers and ensure the success of the project while DAFF transfer the funds to ensure that incubation of the selected farmers takes place. This project is now in its second phase and has seen a total of 1576 jobs created with a combined annual turnover of over six million rands. Participating farmers have been linked to markets such as Tiger Brands (tomatoes), Technoserve, Rhodes (jam tomatoes); NTK (sugar Beans) Woolworths and Freshmark (gooseberries) DUP and Wol market in Tshwane (vegetables). The second phase of this project comes to an end in 2017/18.

Budget: R 1 825 000, 00 (One million eight hundred and twenty five thousand rands) has been budgeted as a transfer to the incubator through the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).

4. Financial Support (AgriBEE Fund)

The AgriBEE Fund was conceptualized as a support intervention to enable participation of businesses owned by Africans, previously excluded from mainstream economic activities. The objectives of the Fund are to promote the entry and participation of black people in the entire agriculture, forestry and fisheries value chains, through provision of funding for equity deals (acquisition of Interests/shareholding) in economically and financially viable sector entities and enterprise development (value addition and agro-processing) to the people who were previously marginalized to participate in the economy thus, ensuring an increase in the number of black people who own, manage and control sustainable enterprises in the sector.

Budget: R 38 232 000, 00 (Thirty eight million two hundred and thirty two thousand rands) has been allocated for the 2016/17 financial year.

Reply:

The Protocol Agreement between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is in force until 31 July 2016. In preparation for the termination of this agreement, the Department has already entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with an organisation called Amagagasoshintsho for the implementation of the Small-scale Fisheries programme in the province as well as for the deployment and management of the Catch Data Monitors for the Small-scale fishery. In addition, the Department will redirect the financial resources currently spent on the Ezemvelo KZN contract to ensure that there will be monitoring, control and surveillance capacity in KZN post July 2016.

Reply:

DAFF has engaged Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs (DARDLE). They provided the following answers:-

1.The DARDLE has collected all the tractors that used to be allocated to cooperatives into one central place after realizing that there were challenges in this method when it comes to servicing farmers on the ground who were not members of the cooperatives. Furthermore, the maintenance of the tractors was also a challenge. Mzinti Training Centre was then selected for the safekeeping of the collected tractors. This move assisted the department to be able to evaluate the current status of all the tractors that were collected.

The centre currently has 58 tractors, of which 16 are in good working condition, which comprises of 4 new tractors bought in 2015 and 12 tractors that were repaired.

DARDLE acknowledges that 42 tractors are not functioning. This fleet was bought in 2006/07 financial year and has not been properly serviced all these years as they were with the cooperatives. The assessment conducted by the department revealed that 14 have serious mechanical challenges like engine replacements, gearboxes etc and this will require huge sums of money to repair. The DARDLE has therefore requested the Mpumalanga Department of Public works Roads and Transport to auction them so that they can be cleared in our asset register. The department is awaiting the auction date.

2. Yes, the DARDLE has set aside budget to continue servicing the operational tractors and also to repair the 28 tractors that could not be repaired during the last financial year.

3. The impact is minimal due to the fact that the department has in the centre 16 operational tractors. DARDLE has in the past financial year 2015/16 appointed 14 private service providers to complement the existing fleet, to ensure that farmers receive the expected services from the department.

Reply:

1. I wish to refer the Honourable Member to the Office of the Registrar of Member’s Interest to which I have made submissions to since being appointed as Minister.
2. I wish to refer the Honourable Member to the Office of the Registrar of Member’s Interest to which I have made submissions to since being appointed as Minister

Reply:

DAFF

(a) The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has effected payments to the following suppliers according to available BAS reports:

Supplier	Service description	Payment date	Amount
Vusizwe Media PTY LYD	Advert of Minister’s response to questions published in Thinker Magazine	29/06/2011	R 69 365.80
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Coverage of the Minister’s Budget Vote Speech	11/06/2012	R309 277.44
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Attendance of business briefing by 5 Delegates	22/10/2012	R    3 961.50
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Hosting of The New Age SABC2 Business Briefing where the Minister and Deputy Minister were the keynote speakers:250 delegates	20/12/2012	R 178 267.50
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Awareness campaign for World Food Day	20/12/2012	R647 054.88
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Awareness campaign for World Food Day	20/12/2012	R647 054.88
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Awareness campaign for World Food Day	20/12/2012	R647 054.88
Vusizwe Media	Advert in The Thinker Magazine	14/11/2013	R39 888.60
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Minister’s Media Briefing on Morning Live (SABC 2) ON Female Farmer Entrepreneur Awards and Abor Week via the New Age	31/10/2013	R 842 886.36
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Booking for Business Briefing	11/02/2015	R 9 950.00
TNA MEDIA PTY LTD	Booking for Business Briefing	15/02/2016	R 26 315.79

OBP

1. No senior official of Onderstepoort Biological Products has met with the Atul, Ajay or Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma between 2009 and 2015
2. Onderstepoort Biological Product has never awarded any contracts to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media in the specified period

PPECB

1. No senior official of the PPECB ever met with Atul, Ajay or Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma between 2009 and 2015
2. PPECB has not awarded any contracts to to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media in the specified period

ARC

1. No senior official of the ARC ever met with Atul, Ajay or Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma between 2009 and 2015
2. The ARC has never awarded any contracts to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media in the specified period

NCERA

1. No one at Ncera Farms met with the said persons
2. Ncera Farms did not award any contracts to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media

NAMC

1. No senior official of the NAMC ever met with Atul, Ajay or Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma between 2009 and 2015
2. The NAMC has never awarded any contracts to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media in the specified period

MLRF

1. No senior official of the MLRF ever met with Atul, Ajay or Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma between 2009 and 2015
2. The MLRF has never awarded any contracts to Sahara Holdings, Comair, Oakbay Investments, Islandsite Investments, Afripalm Horizons Stakes, The New Age Media, JIC Mining Services and Vusizwe Media in the specified period

Reply:

1. The NAMC monitors food prices at retail level and releases regular authoritative reports. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries established the Food Price Monitoring Committee (FPMC) at the NAMC to track and report on food price trends in South Africa and also to provide explanations on the observed trends and advise the department on any possible action that could be taken when national and household food security is threatened. The FPMC was established after the high food price episode of 2000/01 season. The functions of the FPMC were assumed by the NAMC after the FPMC completed its work in August 2004. The NAMC issues four quarterly Food Price Monitoring Reports annually and, since 2005, also publishes an annual Food Cost Review, which documents the margins between farm prices and retail prices of the major food products, among other topics. In 2015, the NAMC began releasing a quarterly Farm-to-Retail Price Spread (FTRPS) publication, which seeks to provide more insight into the factors driving commodity and food price margins. This publication, the Food Basket Price Monthly Report, is a result of recent discussions with industry, and the need to keep watch on the movements of food prices on a more regular basis than the current quarterly Food Price Monitor.

Part 2 of question 1; basic foodstuffs are Zero Rated food items in relation to VAT and thus is the mechanism used to protect the poor.

2. The Minister will make statements on food security in the country at various formal occasions such as the 20-16/2017 budget vote speech and at the yearly commemoration of World Food Day on the 16th October of each year as declared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to heighten awareness on food insecurity.

DAFF has established the Interdepartmental Food Insecurity Drought Task Team to address challenges that are posed by the current drought situation in the country.

Reply:

(1)(a) The Elands Bay Infrastructure Improvement Project has not been handed over to an owning agent.

(1)(b) As the project has not been handed over to an owing agent, a capacity building component for a small-scale cooperative has not been developed.

(1)(c) As stated above, there is no owning agent or capacity building component and therefore there are no cost implications.

(1)(d) As stated above, the project has not been handed over to an owning agent and no service providers have been appointed.

(2)(a) (i) , (ii) and (iii) The number of operational and administrative staff to be employed

can only be determined once owning agent has been appointed.

(2)(b) The associated costs can only be determined once owning agent has been appointed.

(3)(a) Yes. The extension of the employment contracts of the military veterans will be paid retrospectively. The funds will be provided from the EPWP/Working for Fisheries Programme.

(3)(b) Eight Hundred Thousand Rand (R800 000) has been allocated for the extension of the contracts.

(3)(c) Yes. The military veterans worked from 1 September – 23 September 2015.

(4) No.

Reply:

(a) Fertilizers are registered in terms of Fertilizers, Farm feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act No. 36 of 1947. Section 3:2(a) requires that any fertilizer in respect of which registration is applied for is suitable, and sufficiently effective for the purposes for which is intended, and complies with such requirements as may be prescribed and that it is not contrary to the public interest that it be registered. Any registration shall be subject to the prescribed and additional conditions as may be determined by the Registrar through fertilizer regulations and various guidelines.

(b) The Department is promoting the land care programme, organic farming and conservation agriculture. These interventions are aimed at contributing towards sustainable utilisation of agricultural resources.

Reply:

(a) The site visit by DAFF officials on 30 September 2015 revealed that the Cederberg project was operational and that beneficiaries were on site.

(b) Back to office reports were compiled by each official. There is no consolidated report containing recommendations.

(c) As mentioned above, there is no consolidated report.

Reply:

(1) The Department always gives full and proper attention to the expert opinion given by each Branch or Chief Directorate. It is not understandable why there is a belief that the Department   acted contrary to the view of some experts. The Department acted in accordance with proper rules and procedures and followed the scientific recommendations given by its experts. The Department has not allocated any additional commercial quota and has thus not endangered the viability of the horse mackerel population. It should also be borne in mind that at the moment no fisherperson has been allocated fishing right and all are operating under exemption. This means, therefore, that it is not possible for any person to say that The Department has over-allocated as horse mackerel fishing can be stopped at any time if the Department believes that that stock is facing an ecological threat.

(2) Permits are issued by delegated officials in the Department and there has not been a need (now and in the past) for the Minister to make announcements on the issuing of any fishing rights.

Reply:

1(a) The Agreement between DAFF and the Department of Defence and Military Veterans does not deal with the employment of the Military Veterans by DAFF. It was therefore decided to create a separate Deliverable in the existing Cederberg Fishing Infrastructure Development and Management Project for the deployment of Military Veterans under the Marine Anti-poaching Project.

1(b)(i) The Memorandum of Agreement between the Cederberg Municipality and DAFF makes provision for employment of Military Veterans as separate Deliverable (Annexure D of MOA).

1(b)(ii) The Business Plan deals in the main with the Cederberg Fishing Infrastructure Development and Management Project but also includes Military Veterans as a separate Deliverable.

2(a) The amount allocated to the Marine Anti-poaching component of the Cederberg Fishing Infrastructure Development and Management Project comes from the Working for Fisheries Programme: Expanded Public Works Programme is Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Rand (R 12 500 000).

2(b) EPWP criteria and conditions were attached to the funding of the project.

2(c) (i) Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Rand (R 12 500 000).

2(ii) Twenty (20) months, commencing January 2014.

2(d) The Agreement between DAFF and Department of Defence and Military Veterans guided the selection of the military veterans.

3(a) Forty-one (41) veterans are employed.

3(b) The amount paid varies depending on the number of days worked as per the EPWP guidelines.

Reply:

(1)(a) The Cederberg Municipality has been appointed as the implementing agency for the Elands Bay Infrastructure Improvement Project.

(1)(b) The Cederberg Municipality submits monthly progress on project deliverables; Expenditure per budget item and EPWP employment details

(2)(a) Yes.

(2)(b) Yes.

The Cederberg Municipality is a public entity and the EPWP makes provision for the appointment of public entities and municipalities and other organs of government as implementing agencies.

(3)(a) Monies for the employment of the military veterans were allocated from Expanded Public Works Programme/Working for Fisheries Programme.

(3)(b)(i) The management of the Marine Anti-poaching Project (MAPP) Marine Anti-poaching projects was included as an additional deliverable.

(ii) Twelve Million and Five Hundred Thousand Rand (R12 500 000) was allocated to the Marine Anti-poaching project.

Reply:

By using the names provided, the department could not trace any contracts awarded to the names mentioned.

Please take note that the information is insufficient as the Department requires either the ID number(s) of the individuals or the names of their companies.  It should however be noted that once the above information is provided, the Department will be able to reply to the enquiry.

Reply:

(1) My department draws from models designed in collaboration academic and research institutions within the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management fields. These institutions provide climate projections for long term adaptation and mitigation scenarios to assist the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) on the development of short – long term planning and strategies. Furthermore, the department in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) commissioned a research on “Sensitivity of crop suitability to climate change in South Africa” which addressed the potential shift of climate regions over South Africa and the potential shifts in crop production areas, driven by projected changes in temperature and rainfall.

The product of these models is disseminated on monthly basis to alert farmers on the seasonal forecast as well as suggested measures/strategies to prevent and mitigate against the impact of hazards and disasters under the auspices of the National Agro-meteorological Committee (NAC) chaired by DAFF. These contribute in the implementation of disaster risk management measures founded on prevention and mitigation as provided for under the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002).

2. My department draws from models designed in collaboration academic and research institutions within the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management fields. DAFF utilises the products of the models to advise the agricultural sector to plan ahead as well as the required measures in their farming practices. Furthermore, the daily extreme weather warnings issued to the agricultural sector are aimed at assisting farmers to be prepared for the pending hazards on the short-term for prevention and mitigation to ensure minimal impact to the sector.

3. As stated on items 1 and 2 above, the department issues advisories and warning messages to the farming sector as received from expert agencies such as SAWS and the ARC. As you will recall, the press release issued by DAFF on 3 November 2015 already reported on heat waves that occurred in September and October 2015 and provided advice on mitigation measures. This press statement further indicated the expected above normal temperatures and farmers were advised to implement precautionary measures to mitigate the impact associated therewith. The NAC Advisories further emphasised these conditions on monthly basis including the provision of precautionary measures. The NAC meeting held on 17 February 2016 deliberated on the observed weather conditions including on the above average temperatures where provinces were further advised to encourage the farmers to implement precautionary measures to mitigate these conditions. The outcomes of this meeting will be circulated to all involved including to the farmer organisations.

4. The mandate on climate resides with the Minister of Environmental Affairs. My Department is a user department. The department’s response to climate change in terms of the Sector Plan alluded to above is geared at addressing climate change across the country in line with national, regional and international frameworks. Based on the long term prediction scenarios, DAFF developed Climate Change Sector Plan for the implementation of an effective climate change adaptation and mitigation programme for the sector in compliance with the National Climate Change Response White Paper (NCCRWP, 2012) and in conformity with the Disaster Risk Management system. Some provinces have also developed climate change plans for their local scenarios which further assist in addressing the negative impact of climate change.

Climate change is a cross cutting issue and affects us all hence the need for the involvement of all role players and relevant stakeholders.

Reply:

Minister Zokwana has a signed performance agreement that is translated into a Medium Term Strategic Framework for a 5years period. This is broken down into an annual performance plan.

These documents form the basis of the department being held accountable by Parliament on a quarterly basis and also held accountable by the public. The performance agreement of the Minister is therefore publicly assessed through the Portfolio Committees on a regular basis.

Additionally, the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) compels all the Executing Authorities to subject their departmental expenditure to the Auditor General. This again is a measure that ensure full accountability to the public funds.

Reply:

1. Expenditure by the department for advertising space in the New Age newspaper are as follows:

(a) 2012/13 financial year:

(i) 7 adverts

(ii) Total amount of R 393 922.30

(b) 2013/14 financial year:

(i) 3 adverts

(ii) Total amount of R 206 325.18

(c) 2014/15 financial year :

(i) 5 adverts

(ii) Total amount of R 378 511.92

Reply:

The Policy of set aside has not been implemented as yet by the National Treasury. Therefore, it is not possible to supply information with regards to (i) SMMEs and (ii) co-operatives from 1 April 2015 up to the latest specified date.

However, the Department does keep record of quotations awarded from R10 000 to R500 000 and bids awarded above R500 000 in terms of B-BBEE. Attached herewith is Annexure A with regards to bids awarded from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015 and Annexure B quotations awarded from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015.

Reply:

a) At an emergency maize meeting held on 8 December 2015, it was agreed that if weather conditions did not improve, a formal industry-wide meeting should be held on 15 January 2016, to evaluate the impact of the drought, particularly on the production of maize; to acknowledge the necessity of industry cooperation in dealing with the situation; and, to reach consensus on actions required to address the looming shortage of food in the country.

Therefore, one of the actions strongly supported, was to release a production forecast for the new season a month earlier (during January 2016), because a reliable official estimate of inter alia the size of the expected maize crop, was required (as a result of the drought situation) in order for industry to plan properly. Kindly note that the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) has traditionally released a preliminary area planted to summer grain crops estimate for the new season during January.

b) At the follow-up emergency maize meeting held on 15 January 2016, where about 70 Maize Steering Committee Members/Industry role-players/Interested parties were present, it was decided to send a formal request to the Department and the national Crop Estimates Committee, which falls under the auspices of the DAFF, to release a crop estimate prior to the traditional first estimate in February 2016.

Also, at this meeting, it was noted that an earlier crop estimate would assist the Grains and Oilseeds Supply and Demand Estimates Committee, under the auspices of the NAMC, to release information on the availability of maize regarding the new marketing season, which commences on 1 May 2016, a bit earlier.

c) Since this is the first time that the CEC has released a preliminary production forecast during January, and no previous data sets exist to compare it against, the CEC is not in a position to comment on the reliability of such an early forecast. However, it should be noted that the Crop Estimates Liaison Committee, an oversight body over the CEC, has set a norm for the CEC to be within 8% for the 1st to the 4th estimate from the final crop size; and to be within 5% for the 5th to 8th estimate from the final crop size.

In considering the accuracy of the estimates of the Crop Estimates Committee over the past 5 seasons, the Committee was (except for 2014) always within the required norm of 8% for the February estimate vs the final crop size.

Season	Estimate within the required norm of 8% from the (actual) crop size.
2010	+0,5%
2011	+6,6%
2012	-3,4%
2013	+4,6%
2014	-11,0%
2015	-2,9%

Furthermore, the preliminary production forecast released in January 2016, was exclusively based on information provided by farmers, with no inputs from other role-players.

Reply:

Yes the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has completed the development of the Agricultural Drought Management Plan. The plan will form part of the strategic and/or overarching Agricultural Disaster Risk Management Plan.

(b) (i) The draft Agricultural Drought Management Plan went through the sectoral consultative process and was finalised is currently going through the departmental processes or/and structures for approval to become a policy document.

ii) The draft plan is currently being implemented whilst waiting for all the structures/processes to be completed for approval as policy document. The implementation of the plan is as per the draft Agricultural Disaster Risk Management Plan Disaster Management Act, act 57 of 2002, Disaster Management Amendment Act, act 16 of 2015, and the Disaster Management Framework of 2005 mandate and prescripts, in line with agricultural production related policies and with the Climate Change Sector Plan for agriculture.

Reply:

Yes the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has completed the development of the strategic and/or overarching Agricultural Disaster Risk Management Plan.

a) The draft strategic and/or overarching plan went through the sectoral consultative process and was finalised. It is currently going through the departmental processes or/and structures for approval to become a policy document.

b) The draft plan is currently being implemented whilst waiting for all the structures/processes to be completed for approval as policy document. The implementation of the plan is as per Disaster Management Act, act 57 of 2002, Disaster Management Amendment Act, act 16 of 2015, and the Disaster Management Framework of 2005 mandate and prescripts, in line with agricultural production related policies and with the Climate Change Sector Plan for agriculture.

Reply:

a) The National Agrometeorological Committee released 12 reports every year.

b) The purpose of each report is to update the agricultural sector on the seasonal climate forecast for the specific period as well as the strategies to be implemented in line with the expected rainfall and temperature conditions since the South African Weather Service updates the seasonal climate forecast.

c) The information was distributed through e-mails to the Provincial Departments of Agriculture (Head of Departments, provincial management and disaster risk management coordinators) and Organized Agriculture amongst others, for further dissemination to the farming communities. The information was further distributed and discussed with the farmers during awareness campaigns on disaster risk management, roving seminars on impacts of weather and climate to agriculture as well as farmers days organized by province. In addition, the information is disseminated during uptake of early warning information meetings in the provinces. Furthermore, the extension officers continue to discuss the advisories with the farmers as part of their scheduled meetings including facilitation of study groups.

Reply:

No

(a) Not applicable

(b) Not applicable

(c) Not applicable

Reply:

The Department received a request to transfer the allocations of the Exemption Holders of the Zone A West Coast Rock Lobster (Nearshore) from Zone A (Areas 1 and 2 - Port Nolloth and Hondeklip Bay) to Zone B (Areas 3 and 4). The request has been declined because the Department and the West Coast Rock Lobster sector have irrevocably committed themselves to a resource recovery plan to rebuild the West Coast Resource Lobster resource to 35% above its 2006 level by 2021.

The objective is to rebuild the 2006 biomass of male West Coast Rock Lobster above the 75 mm CL minimum size limit, by 35% by 2021 (i.e. B75mm(2021/2006) = 1.35. The Department endeavours to promote recovery of the resource as a whole, and of the resource in each of the five super-areas (A1-2, A3-4, A5-6, A7 and A8+), while containing the risk of unintended resource reduction in each of these super-areas. The proportional allocation of the global Total Allowable Catch amongst the five super-areas will differ from year to year to take account of the different recruitments occurring and hence different trends in abundance in each of these super-areas.

However, the request to use the John Ovenstone factory as a holding facility and to nominate specific (Nearshore) Exemption Holders to harvest on behalf of the Zone A (Nearshore) Exemption Holders, respectively, have been approved on 18 January 2016.

Reply:

The Department received an application to extend the current food processing enterprise permit in Port Nolloth on 20 January 2016. The application was approved on 22 January 2016

Reply:

1.

(a) The provinces did assess the drought conditions prior to declarations requests. The verifications was done by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) together with provincial departments and Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) in arriving at the total costs. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) and Ilima/Letsema grants are used to assist small scale, subsistence and commercial farmers. These grants are approved for transfer to provinces for the implementation of CASP and Ilima/Letsema programmes in the 2015/16 financial year. A maximum of 20 percent has been prioritised from the fourth quarter transfers due to current drought conditions in the country, considering the magnitude of the occurrence based on the available information.

(b) Provinces were then requested to reprioritise 20% of their (CASP) and Ilima / letseme conditional grants to respond to the drought. The ultimate amount allocated to each province is determined by the province in terms of how much the province can make available through the reprioritization process to a maximum of 20%.

(c) Each province receives a different CASP amount as per normal National Treasury budget allocations linked to the individual business plans. Therefore the 20% amount allocated will differ from province to province.

(d) The provincial Heads of Department as the receiving authority in provinces are responsible for the management of the prioritised CASP funds. DAFF will monitor the implementation of the drought relief scheme employing the Drought Relief Scheme Framework.

(2) Drought assessment reports and beneficiary lists obtained through information gathered from physical visits and reports from affected farmers will determine who qualifies for drought assistance.

Reply:

1. Yes. The Department has its own transgression register. The Department also has access to the blacklisted and suspected vessels website.
2. Yes. Seven vessels. (a) the charges were the contravention of the Marine Living Resources Act, Act 18 of 1998; Section 13 (1) and (2) read with section 58 (1) and (2) of the Act. Further charges related to the contravention of the Regulations, Reg 80 (1) (a),(b) and (c). The criminal cases against the captains of these vessels were withdrawn. The captains were deported by the Department of Home Affairs to their countries of origin. The vessels were confiscated to the state and subsequently auctioned off by the Department. The investigations into to the ownership as well as flag state of these seven vessels is still ongoing.
3. (a) The vessels in question have not been registered to operate in South African waters. (b) Yes. If owners of the transgressing vessel are confirmed and verified then the flag state is advised to take corrective measures.
4. (a) Yes. (b) Yes. (c) The transgressions by the above vessels were reported to the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Blue Tuna ( CCSBT) and noted. It was also reported that the fish on board these vessels had been sold in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act.

Reply:

As a Development Finance Institution, we certainly share the view that the farmers are in a difficult position. The prevailing drought has aggravated this season’s conditions following an equally challenging 2014 season.

The Land Bank has been closely monitoring the distress signals of our farmers in an attempt to proactively intervene and support. We are of the view that as the prevailing weather conditions continue, it is likely that more farmers will show early signs of distress.

Farmers genuinely need more state support right now. Land Bank has been proactive in preparing itself to be in a position to assist it clients by reviewing the loans of affected clients through Drought Relief intervention initiatives.

The above is targeted to all droughts declared areas and other affected areas will be confirmed by Land Bank Agricultural Economist Specialists (AES) report and supported by evidence of losses.

 PURPOSE OF DROUGH RELIEF INTERVENTION

• Carry-over  of debt to next session
• Restructuring, of existing facility
• Deferring of payment
• Payment holiday, where applicable
• Interest write-back for Retail Emerging Markets,

 

ELIGIBLE CLIENTS

 

• Existing Land Bank client’s drought relief loans intervention will be based on own merits.
• New clients will be assessed according to the existing credit criteria as set out in the Retail Emerging Markets and Retail Commercial Banking Credit Policies.
• Distressed accounts due to other reasons other than drought are excluded from this initiative, but may apply on the normal criteria.

 

CREDIT CRITERIA

All loans must comply with current Land Bank loan guidelines with respect to repayment ability, security and approved Credit Policy, exceptions will be considered on own merit.

INTEREST RATE

 Interest rate or pricing will be based on client’s risk grade or determined by the appropriate approving committee.

 

RECOMMENDED OPTIONS AT THE DESCRETION OF THE LENDING COMMITTEE

Implementation of drought relief initiative will consider options as follows on a case by case:

1. To advance 2nd season production loans without full settlements of the previous season production facility.
2. Extend repayment period for the remaining term of the mortgage and medium term loan.
3. Granting repayment holiday to a maximum of 24 months depending on commodity and cash flow projections.
4. Interest accrued write back for Retail Emerging Markets clients with inputs for the 2014/2015 production season that did not plant.
5. Adjust loan to value from 60% to 75% (fully collateralized) where business cash supports increased borrowing.
6. Subordination of existing loan where applicable to prevent reckless lending and over-indebtedness.
7. Evaluation for assistance will be based on client’s business case merit.
8. All applications approved under this initiative will require progress reporting every 6 months.

We hope that the above comprehensive account of the Land Bank Drought Relief intervention initiative responds fully to the requirements of the question

Reply:

1. The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) continues to monitor conditions in the provinces and issue updated early warning information/ advisory information to the sector which includes strategies to implement during dry conditions. Such strategies include:

• Usage of grey water especially in food gardens.
• Harvesting water during rainy days.
• Irrigating in the late afternoon/ early evening to reduce evaporation.
• Using drip irrigation instead of sprinklers as it saves water.

The provincial departments of agriculture have made funding requests to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) through their Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMC) requesting assistance in the form of rehabilitation and construction of water resources in farms hardly hit by drought. The provincial requests are made through normal drought disaster declaration and classification processes.

In addition to the normal disaster funding applications, the department is furthermore implementing the Prevention and Mitigation of Disaster Risks projects which is aimed at risk reduction that addresses mitigation and prevention measures. These projects considers the drilling and equipping of boreholes in provinces, especially those in dire need as a result of dry conditions or drought. To date, boreholes have been drilled and equipped in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State and North West Provinces.

In mitigating the impact of dry conditions that culminate to water shortage and drought on farmers, the department has further developed coping strategies of various natural hazards. To date, coping strategies for drought have been developed and published into all official languages to be understood by all. These strategies were issued to farmers and officials. Farmers are constantly encouraged to adapt to the changing conditions, that is, to consider suitable farming operations and implement good farming practices as conditions are also aggravated by poor practices.

Furthermore, roving seminars on weather and climate are continually being conducted in all the provinces. The main objective of these seminars is to make farmers more self-reliant by helping them become better informed about effective weather and climate risk management for the sustainable use of natural resources for agricultural production.

2. This is the mandate of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

3. This s the mandate of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Reply:

The management of drought requires integrated and multi-disciplinary approaches flowing from mandates of various sector departments and other role players. It is on this basis that the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries collaborates with all relevant Ministers including the Minister of Water and Sanitation in dealing with the Northern KwaZulu-Natal drought situation under the support of the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as the custodian of the Disaster Management Act of 2002 (Act 57 of 2002).

If not, why?

The Republic of South Africa has governing piece of legislation on disaster management that guides spheres of government as well as organs of state on how to deal with cross cutting issues. In the case of disasters and disaster risk management there is the Disaster Management Act, no. 57 of 2002, the National Disaster Management Framework of 2005 and the Public Finance Management Act of 1999 (Act 1 of 1009). The above legislation stipulate the roles and responsibilities of all organs of state which among others is to provide for an integrated and coordinated disaster management policy focusing on preventing or reducing the risk of disasters, mitigating the severity thereof, preparedness, rapid and effective response to disasters and post-disaster recovery. The Disaster Management Act 2002 places statutory responsibilities for disaster risk reduction on every organ of state in each of the three spheres of government and gives a mandate for the establishment of disaster risk management centres in all the spheres.

The national disaster response and recovery coordination is done by the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). So DAFF is working under the coordination of DCoG and other relevant sector departments in addressing the disaster relief programmes nationally. The provinces and municipalities also collaborate with the Minister of Water and Sanitation in dealing with the Northern KwaZulu-Natal situation and other affected areas. The provincial Department of Agriculture of KZN put R6 million aside to assist the affected farming communities with supply of fodder to small scale and subsistence farmers. The national drought relief request is submitted to NDMC for both classification and declaration of a state of drought disaster.

Reply:

The KZN Department of Agriculture & Rural Development and Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) conducted a joint assessment with relevant stakeholders in order to establish the extent of the disaster and to establish the number farming communities affected. The provincial assessment reports were then submitted for declaration processes to the Provincial Disaster Management Center (PDMC) and further to the National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) for classification of National Disaster as per Disaster Management processes. The Provincial departments of agriculture have compiled a request for funding through their respective PDMC’s to the NDMC.

Currently a state of disaster was declared in KwaZulu Natal and agriculture was not included on the declaration; however the process of re - declarations of state of disaster for Agriculture and other sectors are underway and the classification will follow at a later stage. The KwaZulu Natal province in the meantime established a provincial drought scheme and is currently implementing an amount of R6 Million on the purchase of livestock feed to assist the affected farmers. The drought assistance has been further sourced from Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) and Land bank and were advised to consider other farmers within their drought schemes.

DAFF continues to provide support and guidance to the provinces regarding disaster related matters particularly on the promotion of Disaster Risk Reduction Measures as prescribed by the Disaster Management Act (57 of 2002). Early warning information and advisory information are issued to the sector, which include strategies to implement during dry conditions; also coping strategies for drought have been developed and disseminated to the farming communities and officials in the sector. The Provincial Departments of Agriculture are also requested to establish Disaster Risk Management Units to enhance risk management operations in their provinces.

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) continues to work closely with the various South African national honeybee commodity organisations aimed at supporting honeybee health in South Africa. The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has been conducting research on South Africa’s honeybees, as an indigenous part of this country’s biodiversity. It has investigated the relevant resources underpinning the managed honey bee industry. Earlier in 2015, a project was completed that has been funded by the Working for Water Programme of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and implemented by SANBI and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). It showed that eucalyptus trees, certain crops (e.g.  sunflower, citrus and canola), as well as indigenous trees and shrubs, in addition to various flowering plants in suburban gardens and on roadsides (wildflowers or weeds) are critically important to South Africa’s indigenous honey bees. It is to be expected that the various role players will act on this information in support of the South African honeybee.

In 2013, DAFF promulgated a control measure, Regulation 858, under the Agricultural Pests Act 1983 (Act No. 36 of 1983) to ensure beekeepers register with DAFF on an annual basis. Beekeepers must mark their beehives with the registration number and inspect colonies on a regular basis to check for symptoms of regulated bee diseases such as American Foul Brood (AFB), and the social parasite, Apis mellifera capensis. If a beekeeper detects AFB, a management plan must be implemented to manage the pest and DAFF must be notified regarding a detection. The aim of the control measure is to ensure reliable and timeous notification of AFB outbreaks in the country. Unfortunately, DAFF has received very few notifications from individual beekeepers to pinpoint the exact locations of the detections. However, serious outbreaks are indicated by the Beekeeper associations such as the South African Beekeeping Industry Organisation (SABIO). These were also reflected in the media on several occasions. The DAFF has developed a Biosecurity Strategy for AFB which will be finalised depending on a delimiting sampling process. It is hoped this will provide scientific evidence of the presence and virulence of the AFB disease in the Western Cape and elsewhere in the country.

Reply:

The provincial department of agriculture in the Eastern Cape called the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian reform has reported that R1.9 million was paid to Magwa tea plantation for the workers’ salaries in 2015/16. The province has indicated that this amount is what they could afford in the current financial year but there is a huge backlog. This project is funded through the equitable share and was never funded through the conditional grants. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has been informed that a business rescue plan has been developed which indicates that at least R66 million is needed to turnaround the business, this figure includes outstanding payments due to workers. The DAFF welcomes the business rescue plan and will set up a team to verify this report by the province and determine the actual outstanding payments to workers as well as support the province in its bid to get additional funding to support the project. It is stated that the business is currently not profitable and no assurances can be made for workers to be paid their salaries on time under current situation.

Reply:

a) The 24 catalyst projects are the original projects identified during the Operation Phakisa Aquaculture LAB phase held in Durban during July and August 2014. Twenty of these projects have started their implementation.

b) An overview of the 24 Operation Phakisa Catalyst Projects are provided in the table below.

Initiative	Name	Species	Location	Province	Expansion or new
1a	Expansion-Venteresdorp- Catfish	Catfish	Ventersdorp	North West	new
1b	Dooringbaai Abalone Farm	Abalone	Dooringbaai	Western cape	expansion
1c	Paternoster Oyster Hatchery	Oysters	Paternoster	Western cape	new
1d	Hamburg Oyster Farm	Oysters	Hamburg	Eastern Cape	expansion
1e	Oceanwise	Dusky kob	East London	Eastern Cape	expansion
1f	HIK Abalone Buffeljags Expansion	Abalone	Hermanus/Bredarsdorp	Western cape	expansion
1g	Abagold	Abalone	Hermanus	Western cape	expansion
1h	Jacobsbaai Sea Products	Abalone	Jacobsbaai	Western cape	expansion
1i	Amatikulu ornamental Farm	Various oramental species	Amatikulu	kwaZulu Natal	new
1j	Amatikulu kob farm	Dusky kob	Amatikulu	kwaZulu Natal	new
1k	Hamburg Kob Farm	Dusky kob	Hamburg	Eastern Cape	expansion
1L	Saldanha Bay Molapong Trout and Salmon	Trout and Salmon	Saldanha Bay	Western cape	new
1n	Catfish cluster/ADZ Ventersdorp	Catfish	Ventersdorp	North West	new
1o	Blue Oceans Mussels (Growout)	Mussels	Saldanha Bay	Western cape	expansion
1p	Southern Atlantic Mussels	Mussels	Saldanha Bay	Western cape	new
1q	Algoa Bay Sea Cage Farming - Yellowtail	Yellowtail	Algoa Bay	Eastern Cape	new
1r	Richards Bay Kob Cage culture	Dusky Kob	Richards Bay	kwaZulu Natal	new
1s	Hondeklip Baai Abalone	Abalone	Hondeklip Baai	Northern Cape	expansion
1t	Diamond Coast Abalone Ranching	Abalone	Hondeklip Baai	Northern Cape	new
1u	Saldanha Bay Oysters	Oysters	Saldanha Bay	Western cape	expansion
1v	Wild Coast Abalone	Abalone	Haga Haga	Eastern Cape	expansion
1vb	Wild Coast Abalone Ranching	Abalone	Port Elizabeth/Cape Recife	Eastern Cape	new
1w	Roman Bay Abalone Farm	Abalone	Gansbaai	Western cape	expansion
1x	Marine Growers Abalone Farm	Abalone	Gansbaai	Western cape	expansion

Reply:

(1) My Department has taken note of the question and has attempted to investigate how it could respond to it. However, we found the question to be unclear in that, it does not identify the exact piece of land and whether it is under municipal administration or state forestry operations. Accordingly, it will be appreciated if the Honourable Member could provide further details on the piece of land in question.

(2) As per the above.

(3) As per the above.

Answer tabled in Parliament on:

DAFF'S RESPONSE:

CLASSIFICATION: CONFIDENTIAL

SUBJECT: QUESTION NO. 3622 FOR ORAL REPLY TO MS A STEYN (DA) TO THE MINISTER OF

AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Reply:

( 1) Drought assessments were undertaken with farmers, Provincial Departments of agriculture (inclusive of North West) and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) (with support of Organized Agriculture) to establish the extent and number of emerging farmers affected by drought. Provincial drought reports from the Departments of Agriculture were submitted to relevant Disaster Management Centres (Local, Provincial/ National). The provincial departments of agriculture requested assistance from their respective Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMCs) regarding their classification and declaration of state of disaster by Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (DCOGTA) through Disaster Management Act (57 of 2002).

In respect of drought incident, five provinces KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Mpumalanga, Free State, Limpopo and North West conducted assessments. Declaration process is completed in Free State, Limpopo and North West. National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) is currently assessing North West province for classification of the drought disaster. Free State and Limpopo submitted classification requests. KZN and Mpumalanga provinces submitted their declaration requests to their respective PDMCs. NDMC will submit the provincial requests to National Treasury for funding.

While awaiting the process to unfold, DAFF has approached all the affected provinces to mobilise resources within their respective provinces. KwaZulu-Natal developed and is currently implementing a provincial drought scheme with a provincial budget of R6 mill ion on emerging farmers, while Limpopo has committed to spent R3 million.

In addition, DAFF continues to monitor conditions in the provinces and issue updated early warning information/ advisory information to the sector which includes strategies to implement during dry conditions. Also, coping strategies of various natural hazards are developed by the department. To date coping strategies for drought have been developed and published into all official languages to be understood by all. These strategies are issued to farmers and officials. Farmers are further encouraged to adapt to the changing conditions i.e. consider suitable farming activities and implement good farming practices as conditions are also aggravated by poor practices.

Furthermore, roving seminars on weather and climate are continually being conducted in the provinces. The main objective of these seminars is to make farmers more self-reliant by helping them become better informed about effective weather and climate risk management for the sustainable use of natural resources for agricultural production.
 

Answer tabled in Parliament on:
DAFF'S RESPONSE:

CLASSIFICATION: CONFIDENTIAL

SUBJECT: QUESTION NO. 3540 FOR ORAL REPLY TO MR N PAULSEN (EFF) ASKED TO THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Reply:

Answer tabled in Parliament on:

DAFF'S RESPONSE:

Requiem sharks (common name for all the Carcharhinus species) such as the bronze whaler shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus), dusky shark (C. obscurus) and blacktip shark (C. limbatus/melanopterus) are caught as by-catch or targeted in a suite of fisheries, including the commercial linefishery, demersal shark longline fishery, pelagic longline fishery, bather protection programme, recreational linefishery, beach seine and gill net fishery, small pelagic and mid-water trawl fishery and prawn trawl fishery.

This study mentioned by the Honourable Mr. N. Singh (da Silva et al. 2015) was the first attempt by DAFF to evaluae DAFF fisheries data in an attempt to understand the effect of these fisheries on bycatch species. It informed the National Plan Of Action (NPOA) for Sharks South Africa published recently, which lists a number of tasks to be undertaken over the next few years to improve the management of chondrichthyes in South Africa. Once completed, these tasks will ensure that chondrichthyes are managed in a sustainable and responsible manner.

The most recent assessment (Dudley and Simpfendorfer 2006) on requiem sharks caught by the KZN bather protection programme, show stable catches of bronze whaler and dusky sharks between 1978 and 2003. These species represent the majority of by-catch as listed in the review by da Silva et al. 2005. Blacktip sharks do show a decline (Dudley and Simpfendorfer 2006) between 1978 and 2003. However less than 10 t (dressed weight) on average of blacktip sharks were reported between 2010 and 2012. Although this study represents data from catches in KZN, the bather protection programme is a good indication of long-term trends due to standardized fishing procedures. Declines have been shown for other species caught by the KZN bather protection programme, and this has been used in the past to inform management strategies. Therefore there is little evidence to suggest that overharvesting of these species is occurring. These trends continue to be evaluated by the scientists based at the KZN Sharks Board.

DAFF research on sharks is currently directed at the 4 main shark species caught as target in the highest quantities. These include the smoothhound shark (Mustelus mustelus), soupfin shark (Galeorhinus galeus), shortfin mako shark {lsurus oxyrinchus) and blue sharks (Prionace glauca). Over the next 5 years the Department will be evaluating the list of 99 of 204 South African chondrichthyes caught in commercial fisheries in South Africa to select the next set of species for directed research. This is set out in the NPOA for sharks.

CLASSIFICATION: Confidential

SUBJECT: ANSWER: Question 3412 for written reply: National Assembly to ask Minister for Agriculture,

Forestry and Fisheries

Reply:

1. (a)(i) The total amount spend on travel costs between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year for the Minister was R 268 638.82.

(a)(ii) The Minister undertook 40 trips between Gauteng and Cape Town in 2014-15 financial year.

(b)(i) The total amount spent on hotel was R 185 828.80 and (ii) residential or other accommodation for the Minister in Cape Town and Pretoria in the 2014 financial year .This information relates to prestige accommodation which will mainly be municipal charges as residential accommodation is paid by Department of Public Works Prestige Unit.

2.  (a)(i) The total amount spent by DAFF on travel costs between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year for the Deputy Minister was R122 157.85.

(a)(ii) The Deputy Minister undertook 19 trips between Gauteng and Cape Town in 2014-15 financial year.

(b)(i) The total amount spent by DAFF on hotel was R 265 416.58 and (ii) residential or other accommodation for the Deputy Minister in Cape Town and Pretoria in the 2014 financial year. This information relates to prestige accommodation which will mainly be municipal charges as residential accommodation is paid by Department of Public Works Prestige Unit.

Reply:

1. The table below illustrate the projects that were supported by the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian reform using both CASP conditional grant and equitable share from 2009 to 2015.

Year	Project Name	LM	Ward	Fund source	Amount spent	SERVICE PROVIDER	Ownership	Type of infrastructure
2009	Thembalethu Shearing Shed	Tsolwana	3	CASP	R 478 126.00	A. Smiles builders	Communal	Shearing shed constructed
2010	Thornhill Dip Tank	Tsolwana	1	CASP	R 75 605.41	Onthandazo trading	Communal	Dipping Facility developed
2010	Thornhill Animal handling Facility	Tsolwana	1	CASP	R 181 418.47	SA & DA construction	Communal	Animal Handling Facility developed
2010	Thornhill fencing – nguni project	Tsolwana	1	CASP	R 755 727.00	Hyman master fence	Communal	Fencing grazing camps
2010	Mittford Dip Tank	Tsolwana	2	CASP	R 35 963.87	SA & DA construction	Communal	Dipping Facility renovated
2010	Mitford broiler house	Tsolwana	2	CASP	R 177 929.00	Odwa & Solie construction	Communal	Broiler poultry facility (250 birds)
2010	Malote Stock Water	Tsolwana	5	CASP	R 466 471.68	SA & DA construction	LRAD Farm	Boreholes and stock water systems developed
2010	Malote Fencing	Tsolwana	5	CASP	R 393 567.90	DDX BUILDERS	LRAD Farm	Fencing 13km errected
2012	Bambanani Youth Development	Tsolwlana	3	CASP	R 250 027.21	97 Grey str ( contractors	Communal	Irrigation system developed
2015	Thornhill	Tsolwlana	5	Equitable share	R 75 000.00	KDC trading	Communal	Dip tank renovation material supplied
2015	Baccles Farm	Tsolwlana	5	Equitable share	R 75 000.00	KDC trading	Communal	Dip tank renovation material supplied
2015	Tendergate	Tsolwlana	5	Equitable share	R 75 000.00	KDC trading	Communal	Dip tank renovation material supplied
2015	Springgrove	Tsolwlana	5	Equitable share	R 75 000.00	KDC trading	Communal	Dip tank renovation material supplied

1 (a) The province is requested to send coordinates for the farms, upon receipt, they will be made available.

Reply:

1. (a) The total amount that DAFF spent on air travel between Gauteng and Cape Town for employees was R15 144 235.14.

(b) Total number of trips that were undertaken was 2561.

2. (a) The total amount spent on accommodation by DAFF during April 2014- March 2015 was R 2 879 035.45;

(b) The total amount spent on car rental for employees during April 2014 – March 2015 was R1 237 539.22.

The purpose of the trip is reflected on the trip authorization form but is not recorded on the invoice system. For the purposes of responding to this question, the actual expenditure as reflected on the invoice system is used. It will be a mammoth task to obtain the relevant information from the multitude of trip authorizations at hand. The trips to Cape Town are not only for Parliamentary business but also include visits to Regional Offices and meetings in the Western Cape.

Reply:

(a) What are the relevant details of the biogas initiatives in the country that are led by the Government?

The Department and the ARC completed a pilot phase of the Biodigester project in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District (Free State province) that started in June 2012 and just concluded in June 2015 as part of the mitigation and adaptation to climate variability and change in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District (Free State Province). This project was rolled-out in Thabo Mofutsanyane District with a number of beneficiaries, mainly community livestock farmers who received training and had the biodigesters equipment purchased for them. 

The ultimate goal of the project was to enhance agricultural productivity by promoting the adoption of an integrated crop-livestock system that effectively mitigates, adapts to and reduces vulnerabilities to climate change. It is also aimed at introducing and encouraging agricultural practices in rural communities that have the potential of mitigating climate change and adapting to adverse effects of climate change and the use of biogas for domestic cooking and electricity purposes.

About 13 biogas digesters for generation of bio-gas for cooking and/lighting from livestock manure were installed and they are operational. The farmer training was conducted and provided an opportunity to promote renewable energies and inform farmers on the possibility of self-energy generation. Capacity building and job creation was achieved through training of the local youth on biogas digester installation. Relevant weather and climate information was distributed to farmers during the planning and implementation of their agricultural activities via sms. The findings of this pilot project will assist with the climate change adaptation and mitigation measures (in the form of strategies and/or polices) for the country.

(b) How extensive is the roll-out of the specified initiatives in the country’s rural population?

This pilot project is currently been rolled out to three Provinces namely: Eastern Cape, North West and Limpopo targeting ten (10) small scale farmers per Province from the financial year 2015/16 to 2017/18. The project aims at raising awareness of climate change among different stakeholders in the agricultural community. It will promote the integrated crop-livestock production system. The beneficiaries in these provinces, mainly livestock farmers will be trained and have biodegesters purchased for them and installed. 

Biogas could be used to generate a large portion of the peaking power required and thereby effect very large cost savings for the country. More funding and resources are however, needed to roll it out at a larger scale.