Photo: FW Archive
Maré told Farmer’s Weekly that the focus should not be on the money allocated for agriculture in the national budget, but rather on how the money was set to be spent.
“However, the devil is usually in the detail as far as a budget is concerned. The detail of the some of the previous budgets for agriculture showed the following: administration [received 16,5% of the allocated amount], production, biosecurity and natural resource management [received 15,5%], food security, land reform and restitution [received 52,3%], rural development [received 5,6%], economic development, trade and marketing [received 5,1%] and land administration [received 5%],” Maré explained.
Overall, agriculture received 31,35% of the budget allocated to the sector, while land reform and rural development received 68,65%.
“My calculations may not be 100% correct, but that is what we see at face value. My immediate question is then: is this allocation fair considering all the challenges in the agriculture sector?”
Serving on a number of organised structures that worked with government, according to him, it was clear that funding often was an issue.
“We need to better control the animal health status and biosecurity, but resources are limited. We need to get research done to find solutions to problems, but resources are limited. We need better oversight at borders for products entering the country, but resources are limited. Resource availability remains the core problem in finding solutions for the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, red meat production included. The question we are faced with is whether the budget is insufficient, or not fair, or if the spending is not done in the right way,” Maré added.
