The Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, has outlined plans to safeguard plant and animal health, while transforming agricultural colleges into centres of excellence. He made this announcement during the tabling of the department’s budget vote in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), where he emphasised that biosecurity is a national priority but must be implemented provincially.
“The outbreaks of avian influenza and foot and mouth disease taught us hard lessons. This year, we are deploying 50 animal health technicians to high-risk provinces; supporting vaccine roll-out in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo; strengthening provincial labs and border inspection posts and enhancing disease surveillance through the National Biosecurity Hub in collaboration with the University of Pretoria,” the Minister said.
Mr Steenhuisen also told the NCOP that his department will be aligning all 11 agricultural colleges with the national higher education system to turn them into centres of excellence. “Our internship programme has already placed over 3,000 agricultural graduates, including in provincial departments. We also just launched an extension week, focused on rebuilding technical support at farmgate level,” he said.
The department is also finalising a revamped market access strategy and expanding blended finance access for smallholders, with dedicated youth and climate-smart financing windows.
In a move to improve governance and performance monitoring the Minister announced said he was introducing a new ministerial oversight framework that aims to strengthen alignment with the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan; institute biannual performance and audit reviews across all entities; and enforce consequence management and ethical compliance.
“Institutions like the Agricultural Research Council, Onderstepoort Biological Products, National Agricultural Marketing Council and Perishable Products Export Control Board must deliver on their mandates; this is not optional,” said the Minister.
The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Mineral Resources, Mr Mpho Modise expressed the committee’s concern about the current bio-security challenges in the red meat industry and, in particular, the country’s struggle to contain multiple food and mouth disease outbreaks over several years. “The committee notes the department’s response highlighting the endemic nature of the disease in South Africa but also acknowledges the negative impact that the poor management of Onderstepoort Biological Products on agricultural biosecurity. The committee supports the department in its current efforts to effect turnaround strategies for vaccine production and the mass vaccination of livestock,” said Mr Modise.
Political Parties Respond to Budget Vote
Mr Nicolaas Pienaar of the Democratic Alliance commended the department for acknowledging marker barrier as a serious challenge to the growth and development of small-scale farmers. “It is laudable that the annual plan of the department goes beyond the distribution of seeds, tractors and bags of feed. It recognises that market barriers are the true barrier for many small-scale farmers. They can grow food, yes, but without integration into the broader value chain their efforts cannot translate into economic growth and food security. Connecting farmers to the market, to each other and to the community is key,” he said.
He also raised concern about the threat of foot and mouth disease to the livestock industry, but he found the recent interventions by the department encouraging. “South Africa will never be free from foot and mouth disease due to transmission from buffalo in many of our game reserves but with proper management and cooperation we can protect our export market,” he said.
Mr Hendrik van den Berg (FF+) wants the proposed budget to address modern challenges, such as navigating through export tariffs and trade agreements, international market shifts, threats like animal and plant diseases as well as traceability of plants for biosecurity and exports. “Due to the scale and diverse nature of the agricultural sector the department will have to actively network and collaborate with role players and other departments. We need to see open and clear agricultural support from national and provincial level,” he said.
The Patriotic Alliance raised concern about access to land and markets for many small-scale farmers and wanted to know how the budget was going to address that situation. Party representative Mr Bino Farmer said: “There is no food security without land justice, there is no rural development without investment in emerging farmers, there is no dignity in a democracy where black farmers still beg for access while a handful of elites monopolise land, markets and machinery.
“How will this budget bring solutions to challenges facing irrigation schemes and rural cooperatives? How will it connect black farmers to value chains that are still dominated by white owned agri-businesses?” he queried.
Sakhile Mokoena
9 July 2025
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