Wrong perceptions about land ownership and game farming must be changed

"The mere ownership of land does not automatically translate into wealth and game farms are not merely luxurious playgrounds for the rich and tourists, without making any contribution the country's economy. It is perceptions such as these, which over-simplify the sensitive debate about land and poverty in South Africa and should, in the interest of the economy and all the residents of the country, be changed," Dr. Pieter Mulder, deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries says.

Dr. Mulder, today during the opening of the Kirkwood Game Festival in the Eastern Cape, pointed out the important role that game farms and -farming play in the South African agricultural set-up and emphasized that the poverty problem of Africa will not be resolved by merely handing land to people.

About the perception that game farms are only playgrounds for the wealthy, Dr. Mulder said it could not be any further from the truth.

At present there are approximately 10 000 game farms in South Africa and the majority of these are in areas where the land is not truly suitable for agriculture and where game farming is mostly the best option.

Top quality agricultural land in South Africa is very scarce and only 0,2% of the country's surface can be seen as class one land, which is extremely suitable for agriculture. It shows the importance of game farms and -farming to fully utilise all available land in the country.

About the redistribution of land, Dr. Mulder said more land is needed for subsistence farming as part of the political solution and poverty problems in South Africa and Africa.

In this regard it is important to take note that 5% of South Africa's land become available every year in the open market which could, without any disruption to agriculture, be purchased.

"At the same time, the acknowledgement that nine out of every ten land transfers have failed in recent times, points to a serious problem in the land reform program and it creates a serious crisis," Dr. Mulder said.

"If the process of land transfers suddenly leaves too much productive land unused due to these failures, food security is seriously compromised. In future the balance between these political land claims and economic realities will have to be watched carefully.

"In addition, subsistence farmers only produce food for themselves and not for millions of urbanised people. Where land is transferred to small-scale farmers, the objective should be to make commercial farmers of the small-scale farmers to ensure food security and political stability for the future," Dr. Mulder said.

He said that South Africa still produces enough food for its own people and is still a food-exporting country. The question should however be asked whether food shelves should first be empty, as it happened in Zimbabwe, before the important role of agriculture will be truly appreciated.

The various comments about land in recent times, in particular, cause great uncertainty and confusion in the agricultural community.

About the food hunger of an ever growing world population, Dr. Mulder said production will have to double by the year 2050, which will require an additional 1,5 billion hectares of land - an area equal in size to India.

The only way it could be done is to sacrifice the planet's life-giving lungs, i.e. the rainforests, if technology cannot come to the rescue.

According to Dr. Mulder, technology, research and training in the past century have kept up with the provision of food. With technology and research and the sharing of knowledge through training, the current ceilings on food production at present can be broken and more food could be produced with the same and even less inputs.

"This technology debate should also be the debate in South Africa about the future use of land, if we want to compete with the world. Yet, uncertainty is created in South Africa because we are busy with other land debates and the majority, moreover, are based on distorted facts and myths.

"The only way in which to truly find answers in these debates is to have the debates based on facts and not based on emotions and propaganda," Dr. Mulder said.

Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Mulder, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, June 28 2013

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