______________________________________________________________
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
HON MEC’S AKHARWARAY, SELAO,
AND JOEMATT – PETTERSSON.
MAYOR OF DIKGATLONG: MS MARTHA LOUW
COUNCILLORS
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
REPRESENTATIVES
CBO’S AND NGO’S
OFFICIALS OF ALL THREE SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT
REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL FOOD SECURITY PROJECTS WOMEN’S
GROUPS
LEARNERS
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
We gathered here today to remind ourselves
of the critical milestone that we have set for ourselves; eliminating hunger.
Today, we are once more reminded of the
plight of over 840 million people worldwide that are said to be chronically
hungry and under-nourished. In
commemorating World Food Day we should be probing the prevalence of under-nourishment,
malnutrition and assessing the efforts undertaken.
South Africa as a partner to the
International Alliance Against Hunger, commemorates World Food Day, signalling
our commitment towards accelerating the momentum in the fight against poverty
and food insecurity. We commemorating World Food Day reminding one another of
the need to mobilise resources, energy and political commitment to eliminate
poverty.
I wish to state that as a province we will continue
to reinforce our core mandate of reducing hunger by half, come the year 2015 as
spelt out in the Millennium Developmental Goals.
Programme Director,
Allow me to echo a widely acclaimed fact on
the severity of hunger as a socio-economic danger; it undermines health,
education, productivity, and environmental sustainability. It is in this
context that African heads of state had vouched through the
The theme for this year; “Investing in
Agriculture For Food Security,’’ as a adopted by the United Nation’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), serves as a strident call to all of us to redouble our efforts in organising and
empowering those affected by hunger and food insecurity. Agricultural
development is indeed “the first step of a long term sustainable economic
growth.’’
The provincial government has to date
crystallized its political commitment to end hunger through the Integrated Food
Security and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP) that can be given much impetus through
Public-Private-Partnerships. The poverty that we experience within our midst is
the poverty of all humanity hence we cannot allow our efforts to stall. In
dealing with hunger we must continue to flag and reflect on our investment in food
security.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A
truly democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous
In
dealing with the scourge of unemployment and poverty, we should bear in mind
that it is our womenfolk that stand out as the subsistence and household food
production base. Hence we should continue to prioritise on targeting rural women
for food security projects. They are indeed the bastions of our African
agricultural heritage and it is through them that we shall succeed in building
stable and safe rural communities.
Programme Director,
Allow me to flag how we have fared in
addressing malnutrition and poverty through the Integrated Food Security and
Nutrition Programme (IFSNP) that is being championed by the Department of
Agriculture and Land Reform:
1. The Department of Agriculture and Land
Reform
·
The key
objective of the Department in the area of food security includes among others;
increasing household food production and trade; improving income generation and
job creation opportunities and improving nutrition and food safety.
·
Over R
11 000 000 (R11 million) was allocated since the inception of IFSNP which
includes R 4 900 000 for this financial year catering for over 2000 beneficiaries.
2. Department of Social Services
·
Allocations
made since inception of the IFSNP – R 30 595 600 with over R10 000 000 having
been allocated for this financial year.
·
The
targeted beneficiaries are; women, orphans and vulnerable children, youth,
people with disabilities, people infected and affected by HIV/Aids.
·
The
Departments scope of food security covers; 6
3. Department of Health
The Department’s Integrated Nutrition
Programme’s contribution to food security covers the following:
·
Targets
clients who attend health facilities and are found to be malnourished or at
risk of becoming malnourished, is operational at all the Primary Health Care
facilities in the province.
·
For this
financial year, R100 000 was allocated for Nutrition Education, R 2 000 000 for
food supplementation at Primary Health Care facilities, R30 000 towards food
gardens and R60 000 for Vitamin A supplementation.
4. Department of Education
The School Nutrition Programme provides
employment to over a thousand women who prepare meals for learners. It also
supports the establishment of food gardens in schools with 153 planned for the
end of this financial year.
·
Food
Handlers – R 6 054 000.00 (Provincial Equitable Share)
·
Primary
School Feeding – R 29 647 000. 00 (Conditional Grant)
·
Secondary
School Feeding - R7 124 250. 00 ( Provincial Equitable Share)
·
In conclusion Programme Director,
Our food security voyage must be enhanced as
an educational vehicle on issues of nutrition because hungry people are more
likely to catch infectious diseases. Hunger among school going youth has also
proven itself as a major factor in school drop-outs. Hunger in learners saps
strength and dulls intelligence. Of critical importance too is of cause our
investment in agriculture because we ought to preserve our ability to sustain
our agricultural production which is the base of a healthy and prosperous
nation. Agriculture is the engine for the elimination of hunger.
It is for the above reasons that we
targeted the food garden of the Kopanang Small Farmers Association as a project
through which we wanted to demonstrate our investment in food security.
I wish to inform the project beneficiaries
that your tractor is here , the Department of Agriculture and Land Reform is
donating a tractor worth over R100 000 to you to assist you in your project
chores.
And now to the broader Dikgatlong
Community, having noted the food insecurity status of the area, be informed
that the Department of Social Development is contributing food parcels to the
tune of R 100 000 to all Early Childhood Centres and Centres for the Frail.
Added to that is an amount of R20 000 from the Department of Education also for
food parcels for schools.
These deliverables are indeed an indication
of the efforts we have undertaken in strengthening direct access to food
security. Let us not forget that
fighting poverty and ending poverty is a humane act, it is like working for
God.
I
thank you!