DAFFOfficial newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

November 2013

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DEPARTMENTAL

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DEPARTMENTAL

Sustainable food systems for food security

Gariep Dam fish hatchery in phase 2

Pig farming is a business

Biosecurity, quality assurance high on pig producers’ agenda

Regional dialogue on family farming in Africa

Trails in potato production

Celebrating water, celebrating life

Lechaba Landcare project

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Every year on 16 October for 33 years since the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945, the world’s at-tention is drawn to the important role played by food in our lives and people are alerted to the ways and roles each one of us can play to ensure that there is sufficient food for all.

This year World Food Day was com-memorated under the theme, “Sustain-

By Rony Moremi

able Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”. The theme heightens awareness towards sustaining food systems which are friendly towards the environment, people and institutions and the processes by which agricultural products are produced and processed to finally reach the consumers. It shows how every aspect of the system has an impact on the others and how this

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November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 2

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Editor Piwe Mbiko (012) 319 6936 piwem@daff.gov.zaReporters Thuli Dube (012) 319 7929 nokuthulad@daff.gov.za Samuel Kgatla (012) 319 7181 samuelk@daff.gov.za Innocent Mhlanga (012) 319 7827 innocentm@daff.gov.za Rony Moremi (012) 319 6622 rincertm@daff.gov.za Mercia Smith (012) 319 6666 mercias@daff.gov.zaInterns Elias Sekgwele (012) 319 7819 eliass@daff.gov.za Zwiswa Mulaudzi (012) 319 6958 zwiswam@daff.gov.zaSubeditors Lerato Mofokeng (012) 319 7927 leratomof@daff.gov.za Willie de Jager (012) 319 6636 williedj@daff.gov.zaDistribution Pam Sutherland (012) 319 7104 pamsu@daff.gov.za Website: www.daff.gov.za

DAFFnews is the newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry

and Fisheries. Private Bag X250, PRETORIA 0001.

It is published by the Directorate Communication Services, Private Bag

X144, PRETORIA 0001.

Opinions expressed in DAFFnews are not necessarily those of the

editorial team. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced or

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affects the final availability and accessibil-ity of food to consumers. Sustainable use of natural resources, such as water and land, will ensure that there is a sufficient supply of food for the present and pre-serve the capacity of the system for future generations.

In commemoration of this year’s World Food Day, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, together with the Minister of So-cial Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, North West MEC of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Desbo Mohono and FAO country representative, Dr Tobias Takavarasha informed the community of Mahikeng about ways of eradicating hunger. The DAFF Minister and her coun-terparts also visited the North West Food Security and Empowerment Project and two households in Six Hundred Village, also in Mahikeng. The projects received an FAO recognition award for food security and the two households received seedlings for food gardens.

Ms Joemat-Pettersson said that this year World Food Day is commemorated after the approval of the Food and Nutrition Se-curity Policy by Cabinet. “This policy signals a decisive step in establishing a platform for eliminating the issues of chronic hunger

and malnutrition. The policy seeks to ad-vance the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to “halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger”, said Ms Joemat-Pettersson.

Dr Tobias Takavarasha, FAO country representative in South Africa read the speech on behalf of José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of FAO. According

to him “840 million people face hunger and daily food shortages that prevent them from working, stunt the growth of their children, expose them to illness and lead to premature death”. He was speak-ing in commemoration of World Food Day by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the FAO.

Sustainable food systems for food security“840 million people face hunger and daily food shortages that prevent them from working, stunt the growth of their children, expose them to

illness and lead to premature death”

from p 1

Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson with members of the

No. 11 DAFFnews November 2013 3

Departmental

President Jacob Zuma launched the government’s food security pro-gramme, Fetsa Tlala, in Kuruman at the Batlharos Stadium in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality in the Northern Cape, on 24 October 2013.

This was the official launch of the Inte-grated Food Security Production Interven-tion Programme which was introduced last year and will be overseen by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The programme was initiated to afford smallholder farmers, households and communities basic food production. As the department mandate is for ‘‘One family one food garden’’ with the initiation of this programme they hope to achieve this. The President, Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, and Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas visited the Mayeding Agricultural Coop-erative. The project has been running for three years and through the assistance of the CASP funded by DAFF, the provincial Department of Land Reform and Rural Development and the contributions by Kumba Iron Ore they were able to employ 22 workers on the project.

The project plants vegetables and has 159 beneficiaries in the surrounding com-munity. The chairperson of the project, Mr Otsile Dube, informed the President and all in attendance on the daily activities on the project.

The President and the Minister handed over goats, chickens, cows and tractors to the chairperson and his fellow employees to enable them to continue doing the wonderful work they had started.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the President of the country. We really appreciate his visit to our project and we are grateful for the contribution he and the Minister have made to us,” said Dube.

The project is also part of the 1 Million ha, launched earlier this year and has already planted about 1 ha of maize.

The main event was held at the Bat-laros Stadium where the masses were

By Musa Khumalo

Fetsa Tlala helps smallholder farmers

addressed by the Northern Cape Premier, Sylvia Lucas, and the keynote address was delivered by the President.

‘‘The project has been identified to have the capacity to eradicate poverty and contribute to greater food security. As the province we thank the President and the Minister for making a lasting difference in our province,’’ said Lucas.

The President in his keynote address mentioned that Fetsa Tlala seeks to revive unused agricultural land for production. He encouraged people to go back to the land and produce food gardens to sustain their families. He also called upon the youth that they should consider taking up agriculture as a career so that they can manage the country’s food security programmes as envisaged in the National Development Plan.

In line with the Minister of Finance’s (Pravin Gordhan) Mid-term Budget State-ment, the President mentioned that though we still have the scourge of poverty, food security is on the decline because of government programmes. According to the Stats SA General’s Household Survey, the percentage of households that were vulnerable to hunger declined from 29,3% in 2002 to 12,6% in 2012.

‘‘We are making an amount of R2 bil-lion available for this programme, as part of comprehensive support to farmers, for distribution to the provinces. Achieving food security is in our hands, all of us. We must get back to the land and start working to produce food. It is my honour and pleasure to launch Fetsa Tlala, the government’s integrated food production programme,’’said the President.

President Jacob Zuma and Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson visited the Mayeding Agricultural Cooperative in Kuruman.

November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 4

Departmental

The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries together with their counterpart in the Free State Province and the delegation from the People’s Republic of China’s agricultural sector descended on the Gariep Dam fish hatchery in the Free State to hand over and launch phase 2 of the China-South Africa Agricultural Demonstration Cen-tre on 30 October 2013.

The China-South Africa Aquaculture Demonstration Centre project is one of the outcomes of the forum on the China-Africa Cooperation meeting held in Beijing on 4 November 2006, where the former president of the People’s Republic of China Mr Hu Jintao announced the eight meas-ures of aiding African countries, includ-ing building 14 Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre projects in African countries. The Aquaculture Demonstration Centre (ADC) therefore becomes the first project in the area of agriculture that the Chinese government assists South Africa with.

The contract to establish the ADC at

By Innocent Mhlanga

Gariep Dam fish hatchery in phase 2

Gariep Dam was signed in July 2009, between the China National Agricul-tural Development Group Corporation (CNADC) and Free State Department of Agriculture, this was after a feasibility and technical study conducted by the Chinese government. It passed the inspection con-ducted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China in 2011.

To sustain this project, the Chinese government will continue putting in 23 million RMB for operation and manage-ment and again procure the necessary equipment and instruments to be used in the technical cooperation phase. A modern aquaculture technological demonstration centre with areas for offices and train-ing, broodstock breeding, farming and demonstrations, feed processing, where 20 million Mozambique tilapia, African catfish, barbel, Vaal-Orange largemouth yellowfish, goldfish and other freshwater fish species can be bred and farmed, will be established to finalise the research, demonstration, technology extension and

training functions.The question may arise what the main

function and goal of this project is. Train-ing, research and demonstration will be the main focus, also the protection of indigenous fish and extension of aquarium fish; the ADC will work together with all relevant sides to make this plant a research and training base in South Africa or even the entire Southern Africa.

The ADC will also help and motivate the local farmers with the development of cer-tain freshwater fish farming areas centred at its technical core. At the same time, the entire consumption market in South Africa will be explored to achieve sustainable development such as preforming social responsibilities, spreading knowledge to the ordinary population, primary and sec-ondary students, developing technology extension and local farmers’ training, to conduct research on freshwater aquac-ulture breeding and technology. Seeds fit for local conditions will be selected, advanced freshwater aquaculture technol-ogy and management practices will be promoted and sustainable development, cultivating and promotion of the freshwater fish consumption market in South Africa maintained.

In essence, the ADC will make efforts to promote the self-development capacity of South African aquaculture to stimulate economic development, add job oppor-tunities, and improve salaries and better ordinary people’s dietary and nutritional status.

For implementation the agreement is that China will be responsible for the construction and technical cooperation phase, which will be led by the Chinese in all the management and technical as-pects; the buildings will be transferred to the South African government afterwards. Both governments agreed that after the completion of the construction work, a technical cooperation and evaluation will be conducted for 6 years to determine the success or failure of the project.

The Aquaculture Demonstration Centre (ADC) therefore becomes the first project in the area of agriculture that the Chinese government assists South Africa with.

No. 11 DAFFnews November 2013 5

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In a continued effort to bolster part-nership and network with BRICS coun-tries, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) hosted a fruitful and amiable gala dinner with the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development. The gala din-ner for the delegates was held at the Sheraton Hotel, which has a nice view of the Union Buildings.

The gala dinner came after a long meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Agri-culture and Agrarian Development. The meeting resulted in the signing of a joint declaration consisting of resolutions to be considered for 2013 and 2014 before the Fourth BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development Meeting, which will take place in Brazil next year.

Ministers, ambassadors and officials

By Samuel Kgatla

BRICS Ministers of Agriculture gala dinner

at the event focused on strengthening ties and seeing to it that matters relating to BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development are really taken into consideration. The delegates cel-ebrated their two hard-working days in style and it will be in their memories for a long time.

The DAFF Minister, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said they continued to learn from each other as BRICS Ministers of Ag-riculture and Agrarian Development. She mentioned that her department learned more about the Zero Hunger campaign from Brazil.

“We are having a good partnership with China as we do have a DAFF/China schol-arship programme. We send our officials to study for 2 to 3 years at universities

in China. We agreed to have exchange programmes with BRICS countries and it must happen. A society can only prosper if it has nutritious food and that is why we must continue helping our people who are suffering.”

The Minister thanked the staff of BRICS and those in South Africa for hosting a wonderful Third BRICS Ministers of Agri-culture and Agrarian Development meet-ing. She continued that this would not be successful if it had not been for everyone’s support.

“I thank you for being the best del-egates. It is important to recognise the achievements of BRICS in the past years. We hope to see you next year in Brazil. We must keep on working together,” she concluded.

The Marine Living Resources Amend-ment Bill is expected to open more doors and be a boost for small-scale fishers. The new law will certainly put millions of rands into the pockets of fishers in the coastal regions.

During the media briefing in Parliament, the Minister of Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Ms Tina Joe-mat-Pettersson, said the adoption of the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill will create further employment and boost the economy of South Africa. In addition, she said the Bill will enable the allocation of rights to identified small-scale fishing communities that had previously been ex-cluded from the commercial fishing rights allocation process in South Africa.

“The department will embark on a broad plan that would set a minimum price for the important cash catch of West Coast rock lobster. But that would be a consulta-

tive process and the department would not set a price for the lobster catch. The Amendment Bill seeks to give effect to the implementation of the small-scale fisher-ies policy which was passed by Cabinet in 2010. We want to create sustainable economies, and we recognise the willing-ness from the industry to become party to this empowering initiative which for them will still mean profit, but for small fish-ers it is the difference between keeping their children at school for an entire year dressed in school uniforms, and having food on the table for longer periods of the year for their frequently starving families and even affording the all elusive luxury of Christmas clothes/boxes for their kids”.

Moreover, she mentioned that she is glad and proud that they have reached the point where they are right now, and most especially, that they have managed to realise their goal to bring this Amendment

Bill to the National Assembly. DAFF was involved in long discussions

and years of tireless work with small-scale fishers to make amendments to and inputs on the Bill.

Meanwhile the Bill seeks to:Empower the Minister to allocate •fishing rights to small-scale fishers, without competing with major industry playersThe Bill will empower the department •to allocate multi-species, thereby en-suring that people engage in sustain-able and economically viable fishing practices.The Bill will also empower people, •through cooperatives, to fully support small-scale fishers by ensuring market access, financial support, access to processing facilities and other support measures.

By Samuel Kgatla

Boost for small-scale fishers

November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 6

Departmental

Baynesfield Training Academy is the South African Pork Producers’ Or-ganisation’s (SAPPO) training hub for developing pig farmers.

As pig farming is an intensive and highly specialised form of farming, developing pig farmers need assistance from commer-cial pork producers. The academy presents accredited training at NQF levels 2 to 6 and covers all aspects of pig production. The training also emphasises entrepre-neurship and how to become a commer-cially viable pig unit, says Mr Lee Sanders, General Manager of the academy.

Learners at agricultural secondary schools will benefit from visits to the facil-

To make money from farming means the operations should be run like those of a business and this is also true for pig farming. However, to convince developing pig farmers of this fact, is no easy task, said Mr Qeda Nyoka, responsible for developing farmer projects at the South African Pork Pro-ducers’ Organisation (SAPPO).

“The number of successful development

Pig farming is a business

projects flourishing under SAPPO’s caring eye countrywide proves that we are helping developing pig farmers to cross the bridge from just making a living to becoming commercially successful,” he said.

There are still many misconceptions among developing pig farmers. Technol-ogy has changed, therefore farming and production methods used to raise pigs 40 years ago simply do not apply any more.

It is easy to spread diseases among pig units if one’s biosecurity measures are not of the highest standard. This could be to the detriment of the entire industry. According to Mr Nyoka, it is not easy to make money from a pig enterprise and most developing farmers do not realise

how much start-up capital is needed for such an operation. It is an extremely com-petitive business.

However, there are success stories. About 20 units, located in North West, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western and Eastern Cape and in Gauteng are already able to sustain themselves and meet all SAPPO’s requirements. Some even make a profit, he said.

The perceptions of development farming are changing. Even subsistence farmers who farm with pigs are looking at ways to improve their operations. SAPPO aims to play a leading mentorship role in this regard, Nyoka concluded.

ity to learn specific practical skills that are required as part of the school curriculum or for the school to develop a specific programme that the learner requires for a specific subject.Courses presented at Baynesfield Academy:

Developing pig farm owners and •managers (NQF levels 3 to 5)Commercial pig farm owners and •managers (NQF levels 5 and 6)Pig farm workers (NQF levels 1 and •2)Extension officers (NQF levels 5 and •6)Business skills courses (NQF level 6)•

Entrepreneurship•Basic business skills•Business planning•Farm record keeping•Farm accounting•Financial management•

These one-week business skills courses will be presented by specialists in the field. They will be accredited and a certificate will be presented to all learners who have successfully completed the course. These courses are aimed at farm owners, farm managers, graduates, employees in the agricultural sector and the general public. For further information e-mail: infor@sapork.com

Baynesfield Training Academy for developing pig farmers

No. 11 DAFFnews November 2013 7

Departmental

Baynesfield Training Academy for developing pig farmers

The reality of classical swine fever (CSF), Porcine Reproductive and Res-piratory Syndrome (PRRS) and recently food-and-mouth disease (FMD)has hit South African pork producers over the past five years.

Eradication of these diseases cost the government millions of South African rands in compensation to farmers for the culling of thousands of pigs. Fast and timely reaction to the outbreaks of PRRS and CSF by members of the South African Pork Producers’Organisation (SAPPO), with the support of the national veterinary authorities and private pig practitioners enabled South Africa to successfully eradi-cate both these diseases.

SAPPO has an excellent working re-lationship with the national veterinary authorities and cooperates with them on regular national serological surveys to prove the absence of many viral diseases found in other countries. However, the message is clear. Producers not adher-ing to minimum biosecurity will in future probably not be compensated.

The compartmentalisation system that was recently introduced, is aimed at tak-ing biosecurity to the next level. Producers participating in this voluntary scheme have to comply with stricter biosecurity measures than the mere minimum. The system is already bearing fruit.

South Africa’s pig compartmentalisa-tion system is aimed at controlling exotic animal diseases, such as PRRS, CSF and Aujeszky’s, as well as endemic diseases, such as African swine fever and FMD. The system aims to keep these highly infectious diseases from entering South African pig herds and is conducted in cooperation with the national animal health authorities.

The compartments present a disease-control mechanism and will ensure that in the unlikely event of an exotic-disease outbreak in the country the risk of the

Biosecurity, quality assurance high on pig producers’ agenda

disease spreading among South African herds is limited. The national veterinary authorities will then also be able to certify the compartments as disease free. This may ensure the continuation of exports of, among others, genetic material from such compartments.

SAPPO believes that the compartmen-talisation system is the only way producers can ensure a successful future. The crux of the system is that producers must adhere to certain minimum biosecurity require-ments. These are not difficult to achieve and many producers already comply with these standards.

As soon as producers regard their farms as fulfilling all the compartment require-ments, they must apply to be audited via their local government veterinarians. The government veterinarian will supply all the necessary documents to the national veterinary authorities. The compartment will then be approved if all criteria have been met.

A producer’s consulting veterinarian must visit an approved producer at least every second month. The consulting vet-erinarian will be responsible for ensuring that a piggery keeps complying with the compartment’s requirements.

Quality assuranceQuality insurance (QA) is currently

one of the issues in the spotlight in the industry among others because of new legislation. The Consumer Protection Act was introduced, providing consumers with vast protection of extensive rights. SAPPO’s quality assurance system aims to ensure the consumer a safe and healthy product. This is also a voluntary system. The requirements for the compartments differ from those of SAPPO’s quality assur-ance scheme (QAT). The requirements to quality for the QAT system are also stricter than those for the compartments, as the

aims of the two systems differ. Farming practices must therefore take consumer preferences into account with regard to inter alia animal welfare.

The system provides a guarantee to both the consumer and retailing sector that the producer has a consistent production process, which complies with minimum standards and ensures high-quality pork.

QA certification ensures that produc-ers meet the increasing demand for food safety by retailers and consumers. A further result is that producers save on feed and medicine costs, as the intensive monitoring of their production systems ensures that wastage is avoided and that opportunities for improvement on their production systems are continuously be-ing identified.

The system also ensures the highest standard of biosecurity of pig farms. The QA was developed by producers in con-sultation with key role players in the pork products value chain. These include abat-toir representatives, processors, retailers and pig veterinarians.

Producers who participate, enter into a contract with SAPPO. An independ-ent auditor annually audits participating producers to ensure minimum prescribed standards are being adhered to. The production standards address:

Access contol•Internal biosecurity•Pest control•Feeding and feed quality•Housing management and welfare•Sanitary and hygiene requirements•Medication and vaccine management •and usageManure and water effluent•Transportation•

For further enquiries contact Mr Simon Streicher, CEO of SAPPO at simon@sapork.com

The compartmentalisation system that was recently introduced, is aimed at taking biosecurity to the next level

November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 8

Sector

In a united spirit, with great African efforts and as part of the build-up to the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), a Regional Dialogue on Family Farming was held at the Premier Hotel, Cape Town on 6 and 7 November. The regional dialogue is part of a plan for working towards a strategic approach to promote food security and nutrition.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collabora-tion with the World Rural Forum, the In-ternational Cooperative Alliance, and the World Farmers’ Organization hosted this dialogue to enhance local and regional discussions on family farming and small-holder farming (including forestry, fisheries and pastoral production).

The Regional Dialogue in Africa aims at highlighting the crucial role of family farmers, smallholders, producer organisa-tions and cooperatives, in creating food security on the continent. This is the key to a sustainable future, eradication of hunger and poverty, achievement of social cohe-sion, employment and sustainable use of the natural resources. The delegates came from many countries (most were from Africa) and made their contributions to ensure that the issues of family farming are well understood by everyone attending a dialogue.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ Director-General, Professor Edith Vries, mentioned that food security is a basic human right and agreed that such dialogues of family farming are needed in order to have a successful IYFF next year.

Moreover, she urged all African or-ganisations working on family farming to unite when dealing with family farming matters.

“IYFF aims at enhancing local farmers. Family farming can be used to eradicate hunger and poverty. The role of family farming gained prominence and we must continue helping our people. The globe is looking on Africa to feed the rest of the

By Samuel Kgatla

Regional dialogue on family farming in Africa

world. Africa must be able to feed itself first and then be able to feed the world. All our people want is to have better lives and that is why in South Africa we have a campaign of one family one garden, one school one garden, and one clinic one garden.”

She praised the organisers for choosing South Africa to host a Regional Dialogue on Family Farming and wished them well.

Lot Mlati, from the FAO, said a regional

dialogue will help Africa to look at the problems facing family farming. He said that issues of family farming are important and go beyond farming in Africa. Moreo-ver, he said that all the preparations should be taken into consideration in order to have a successful IYFF next year.

Meanwhile, the outcomes of regional dialogue have set the ground to provide a regional overview of family farming issues that could be addressed in the IYFF Global Dialogue to be held in Rome in 2014.

Mr Lot Mlati from FAO, DAFF’s Director-General, Prof Edith Vries and Ms Jemina Moeng, Director for Small Holder Development gearing up for the Regional Dialogue on Family Farming in Africa.

No. 11 DAFFnews November 2013 9

Sector

The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) is taking a leadership role in establishing multi-institutional col-laborative research centres within the South African National System of Innovation.

It has brought together South Africa’s universities and Research Councils to establish multi-institutional collaborative research centres. The key aim of this collaboration is to develop a nationally coordinated effort to provide evidence-based information to support the entire agricultural sectors from small scale farm-ers to large commercial farmers.

The establishment of the collaboration centres in five different priority areas will combine the skills from South Africa’s academia and the ARC to provide com-prehensive and innovative solutions as well as ensuring that the next generation

ARC collaboration with SA universities and research councils

of agricultural experts are developed.“In line with the national development

priorities, one of the Agricultural Research Council focus areas through our agri-cultural research and development is to facilitate sector skills development and knowledge management,” commented the ARC President and CEO, Dr Shadrack Moephuli. This collaboration will help us work together with the universities and utilise the full potential of the country to address national priorities as set out by government. It will also help us reduce unnecessary duplications.”

Each collaborative research centres funded by the ARC, will receive a total of R2.5 million a year, that would be supple-mented by the universities as well as other partners from the private sector and state owned entities. These centres will address

the full value chain from research on pri-mary production to the commercialsation of agricultural outputs.

The minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries has welcomed the initiative as it would be creating a coordinated struc-ture whereby South Africa’s agricultural researchers are working together towards a common goal.

Commenting on the collaboration, hon-ourable minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson said: “The agriculture sector is in need of more experts and scientists, and what better way for us to achieve this than to establish ties with academia and research centres. I hope this partnership will attract more young people into the agricultural research field so we can transfer skills in a co-ordinated and sustainable manner and create employment.”

It was a memorable farmer’s informa-tion day for Matlala Farmers Associa-tion who grasped the essence of the production of potatoes. The Farmers’ representative, Ms. Winny Boshomane could not contain her expression that “it is not too late to learn”.

This follows the insightful motivation on the production of this popular and whole-some commodity presented by the deputy manager for crop production in Capricorn District, Mr. David Madimetja Magoro at Mahumo a Juno vegetable project in Lim-popo Province. In his motivation, Magoro, the former official for Agricultural Research Council (ARC) could not hesitate to men-tion that farmers need good soil and soil sample, best planting time, good variety selection, nutritional requirements in the form of fertilizers, good irrigation, pest control and correct harvesting methods in order to succeed in potato yield.

A well-prepared ridged loam soil that is free from burnt or old plant material and the use of potato seeds with welldeveloped tubers can be cherry on top. The recom-mended planting space should be 90cm in rows, 30cm in furrows and 10cm deep. Clayed and soils that are too heavy are not suitable for potatoes, but the good thing is that they grow in most soils that are well drained.

According to Magoro it is best to plant potatoes from August to January in areas where there is frost while in frost-free areas the suitable planting time is February to early June. Excessive hot conditions can lead to diseases and poor growth.

With the information shared, Matlala Farmers said they are now ready to make trials in potato production with the hope that they will achieve best results. History backed them up as Matlala is located within the area of agricultural high school,

Harry Oppenheimer, where potatoes were produced successfully in the previous years.

Limpopo is the second largest producer of potatoes in the country, 2000ha are produced for processing such as chips and salads, while 9000ha and 1500ha are produced for table potatoes and for seeds respectively.

A detailed workshop for farmertraining where other experts will be roped in on potato production will be organized later at municipal level.

Trials in potato production

November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 10

Sector

Water is life and not a single living organism on earth could survive with-out it. Rivers form the lifeblood of our existence and protecting these crucial ecosystems is becoming more and more critical as economic development and growing populations require in-creasing volumes of water. Throughout southern Africa, freshwater ecosystems are under severe pressure with more than 80% of South Africa’s rivers being threatened.

“Freshwater biodiversity is the over-riding conservation priority during the In-ternational Decade for Action. The theme for the decade–spanning from 2005 to 2015–is Water for Life.

The theme for 2013 is Water and Biodi-versity and was chosen to coincide with the United Nations designation of 2013 as the International Year of Water Co-operation,” commented Bridget Corrigan, Manager of the EWT’s Source to Sea Programme.

Over 10 000 fish species live in fresh water while goods and services derived from inland waters, such as food and drinking water, water filtration and flood control, have an estimated global value of several trillion US$.

“Within South Africa, a systematic as-sessment of river biodiversity found that 84% of river ecosystems are threatened, with 54% critically endangered. Only 16 of the 112 main river ecosystems are moderately to well represented within protected areas and, as a result, South Africa’s river ecosystems are under more pressure than its terrestrial ecosystems,” said Garth Barnes, WESSA Conservation Director.

To highlight the declining state of our freshwater systems and the need to reverse this trend, the EWT facilitated three events in the Magliesberg in the North West Prov-ince, the Groot Marico in the North West Province, and Howick in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The details for the event activities were:

# The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT),

Celebrating water, celebrating life

and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) came together to raise awareness and teach local learners about the importance of aquatic biodiversity and its link to the protection of our water resources. This event, hosted by Happy Acres Environmental Education Camp in Magaliesberg, cele-brated the Water and Biodiversity-themed International Day for Biological Diversity and showcased the importance of building the capacity of future leaders to understand the significance of our country’s water resources. The learners, drawn from Eco-schools in the vicinity, used Mini-SASS, a low technology, freely available water biomonitoring tool that can be used by any age group without the need for a laboratory, to test the water of the Ma-galies River. Mini-SASS enhances learners’ environmental education capabilities, while providing scientifically robust water quality data, thereby empowering learn-ers to deepen their knowledge of aquatic biodiversity while contributing to a body of knowledge about our country’s river health.

# Mmutlwa wa Noko, the EWT ‘s com-munity-based partner on the Crocodile-Marico Catchment Conservation project, hosted a community information day in Groot Marico, along the flagship Marico River to highlight the importance of the sys-tem and water resource to the traditional communities. Officials from the Depart-ment of Water Affairs participated to get a sense of the water issues experienced by the community in this conservation-priority catchment.

# The EWT’s Threatened Grassland

Species Programme, headed by Dr Ian Lit-tle, hosted a landowner engagement and feedback day for farmers who have oribi on their land. The oribi, a small antelope occurring throughout the eastern grass-lands of South Africa, has been classified as endangered because of its rapid decline in recent years. The eastern grasslands are the water catchments of our country and oribi are thus species flagships for water conservation. The landowner engage-ment was in Howick, KZN, at the Karkloof Country Club.

For further information on the Source to Sea Programme please contact Bridget on bridgetc@ewt.org.za. The EWT Healthy Rivers project is funded by the Elizabeth Wakeman Henderson Charitable Foun-dation and Rand Merchant Bank. For more information about WESSA and their projects, contact Garth Barnes on gbarnes@wessanorth.co.za.

For further information on the Threatened Grassland Species Programme please con-tact Dr Little on ianl@ewt.org.za.

The Threatened Grassland Species Programme’s Oribi Working Group is supported by Rand Merchant Bank, Mondi Ltd, Mazda Wildlife Fund, Farmers Agri-care and NCT Forestry Co-operative Limited.

No. 11 DAFFnews November 2013 11

Sector

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the International Crane Foun-dation (ICF), who have been cross-continental partners since 1994, both celebrated 40 years of pioneering conservation action in 2013. The EWT’s African Crane Conservation Programme (EWT-ACCP) and the ICF formalised their working arrangement in 2006 and since then the partner-ship has gone on to deliver real and positive impacts on the status of cranes and communities across the African continent.

“The aim of the ICF/EWT partnership is to secure cranes and their wetland and catchment ecosystems across sub Saharan Africa, in collaboration with communities and all other stakeholders, for the benefit of cranes and people,” said Kerryn Mor-rison, Manager of the ICF/EWT Partner-ship’s ACCP. “We support projects in key crane areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and all of these are co-ordinated in collaboration with in-country partners.”

There are four resident crane species in Africa: the Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus, Grey Crowned Crane Bal-earica regulorum, Black Crowned Crane Balearica pavonina, and Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus. The Wattled, Blue and Black Crowned are all listed as Vulnerable and the Grey Crowned Crane as Endangered.

“The ICF/EWT Partnership allows us to draw on expertise from around the world in the development and implementation of strategies to deal with the plight of the birds,” said Rich Beilfuss, President and CEO of ICF. “Research in other parts of the world is available to us through the part-nership and can be applied as relevant in Africa. Shared best practices and a global perspective mean that we are able to plan and implement locally and regionally with a higher likelihood of success.”

The ICF/EWT’s focal areas of con-servation include:

•Engagingwith communities to ensurethat the health and condition of wetlands are maintained to sustain ecosystem services for people and cranes and other biodiversity. This work includes alternative and livelihood improvement projects•Reducingtheimpactoftheillegalwildcaught crane trade on wild populations•Reducingtheimpactthatpowerlinesand wind farms have on cranes•Researchtobetterunderstandcranes,the threats to their survival and what they require to thrive and survive•BetterunderstandingtheroleofBlueCranes on the agricultural landscape in the Western Cape so that objective input into wind farm developments can be provided and the impact of climate change better understood and addressed•Thedevelopmentoffutureconservationleaders and of strong capacity for conservation action on the continentFor further information about the ICF/EWT African Crane Conservation Programme and how you can help us to secure another 40 years of conservation in action please contact Kerryn on kerrynm@ewt.org.za or kerryn@savingcranes.org. Visit https://www.savingcranes.org/forty-years-of-conservation-leadership.html for further information on how you can contribute to the work of the ICF/EWT partnership.

EWT African Crane Conservation Programme

Grey Crowned Crane Black Crowned Crane

Wattled Crane

Blue Crane

November 2013 DAFFnews No. 11 12

Sector

Project background

The project is on the farm Matebeleng (Vlakfontein 739 LR), almost 75km north of Mokopane town within Mo-galakwena Municipality of the Waterberg District. The farm is communal property under Kgoshi Langa of the Baken-berg Traditional Council. The size of the project is 957 ha. The project receives rainfall of 340mm to 580mm per an-num. Temperatures range from a minimum of 17 ºC to 19 ºC and maximum of 28 ºC to 31 ºC during summer; and winter has a minimum of 4 ºC to 6 ºC and maximum of 21 ºC to 23 ºC. The soils are moderate clay to sandy, the area is mountainous with a very broken terrain.

The project identi ed challeng-es such as excessive erosion, poor veld management, lack of CBNRM knowledge by ben-e ciaries and the need to re-verse the situation. The project objectives are to combat soil erosion, practise proper veld management, increase produc-tivity, capacitate bene ciaries and create small enterprises to sustain the project.

The community approached the local agricultural of ce for intervention and received advice to apply for LandCare funding. The project started during the 2000/01 nancial

year with the community grants from LandCare as an initiative to address land degradation through soil conservation and veld management and re-ceived R620 000,00. The grant was used for capacity building (5%), work opportunities (30%) and material (65%). The proj-ect purchased fencing material for veld management, a dia-mond mesh-making machine (enterprise development), wire coils, gabion materials, work-ing tools and protective cloth-ing. The project became part of the Mogalakwena area wide conservation during 2006/07 and continued with soil conser-vation, veld management and training of bene ciaries.

Impact of project on economy and community

• The project created 110 tem-porary work opportunities mostly for youth and women.

• The livestock production sys-tem improved, as well as the quality of livestock and sales.

• The environment improved because of management ini-tiatives and reduced erosion and water pollution.

• The community is empow-ered through involvement in the planning and implementa-tion of project activities.

• Good and healthy animals

are produced.

• Community members are ca-pacitated through on-the-job training and workshops.

• The community inherited good infrastructure to in-crease production.

• An enterprise was developed for manufacturing diamond mesh wire.

• Most bene ciaries were intro-duced to the working condi-tions and had the opportunity of having a bank account.

• The production and sale of diamond mesh wire within the community provided local economic empowerment.

Achievements

• Constructed 18 gabion struc-tures to combat soil erosion, covering 240 ha.

• Erected 36 km fencing to sub-divide grazing camps (4 camps) and arable lands.

• Controlled bush encroach-ment on 18 ha.

• Trained 70 bene ciaries on fence erection and mainte-nance.

• 30 bene ciaries were trained on gabion construction.

• 6 bene ciaries were trained on brush cutter operation and maintenance.

• 6 bene ciaries attended a Life Orientation Course.

• 1 bene ciary was trained on bookkeeping.

• 1 livestock handling facility was constructed.

• 12 bene ciaries were trained on the use and maintenance

of a diamond-wire-making machine.

• Created much needed work opportunities and transferred skills to bene ciaries.

• Constructed a re belt to curb uncontrolled res from adja-cent farms.

• Maintained 1 existing earth dam.

Change created towards CNRM

• Positive attitude by communi-ty towards natural resources.

• Participation in Communi-ty-based Natural Resource Management meetings.

• Functional committees at grass-roots and in the munic-ipality.

• The ownership and conserva-tion of resources are commu-nity driven.

• The natural resources are re-habilitated.

• Natural resources are now of prime importance and land use plans are initiated.

For further information contact:National landCare secretariatPrivate Bag X120, Pretoria 0001Tel.: (012) 319 7685 or E-mail: Dlusm@daff.gov.za

agriculture,forestry & fisheriesDepartment:Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesREPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Lechaba LandCare project

PROJECT PROFILE