Agricultural uncertainties must be resolved within the next five years

 "If the current uncertainties in agriculture are not resolved within the next five years, there will in all probability not be another commemoration in a hundred years' time of the establishment of the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders Association, due to the loss of expertise," Dr. Pieter Mulder, deputy minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.

Dr. Mulder was a speaker at the gala dinner in Thabazimbi where the hundredth year of the existence of the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders Association was celebrated. In June 1912, in the midst of the uncertainties following the Anglo-Boer War, a number of cattle breeders got together to establish the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders Association.

"The biggest problem at present in agriculture is the uncertainty about land and uncertainty about further government interference in agriculture," Mulder said.

This uncertainty is caused in particular by irresponsible propaganda statements for short-term political gain, without taking the effect of it on agriculture into consideration.

The only thing needed to clear these uncertainties is the political will to take the right decisions about land reform and less state interference in agriculture.

Any political leader, who talks about land reform today and at the same time does not also talk about the influence of it on food security, does not know what he/she is talking about, according to Mulder.

"Fourty per cent of all cattle in South Africa belong to communal and small-scale farmers. The problem is that these farmers only contribute 5% to the meat production in the country. If this percentage could be increased, it could make a huge contribution in addressing poverty in rural areas," Dr. Mulder said.

Dr. Mulder praised the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders for their contribution over a period of a hundred years for providing food, milk and transport to the population. The fact that this breed of cattle is depicted on monuments, honoured by poets and praised in traditional songs, confirms the important role which it had played in the last hundred years.

Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Mulder, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and leader of the Freedom Front Plus, July 29 2012

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