South Africa's Department of Land Affairs is committed to fast tracking land distribution amongst farm dwellers and those who have been forcefully removed from their farms with the new Land and Agrarian Reform Programme (LARP).
The Minister of Land Affairs, Lulu Xingwana, said her department is to redistribute five million hectares of land to 10,000 new farmers through the programme.
She said the programme will go a long way towards achieving success in the land reform programme in South Africa. "We are going to increase black entrepreneurs in agribusiness by 10 percent, increase agricultural production by between 10 percent and 15 percent and finally, we are going to increase agricultural trade by between 10 percent and 15 percent." Ms Xingwana committed to delivering on these specific outputs by March 2009.
The ministry has embarked on a drive to acquire land and provide long term residence security for people living on commercial farms. "Through LARP we will deliver 416 824 hectares to 14 784 beneficiaries by March 2009 in KwaZulu-Natal. "The targets relating to the other four outputs will similarly apply in the province in the same manner that they apply in the entire country," said Ms Xingwana.
PLARFO was established by the provincial stakeholders involved in land and agrarian reform, to facilitate the coordination and information sharing among its members on the implementation of the land and agrarian reform in the province. The primary aim of the forum is to provide stakeholders with a platform for structured and constructive communication, coordination, cooperation and information sharing concerning the implementation of the land and agrarian reform in KwaZulu-Natal.This will facilitate efficiency and effectiveness, and promote developmental outcomes and long-term sustainability. The redistribution target for the Provincial Land Reform Office in KwaZulu-Natal is 1 240 000 hectares of white-owned agricultural land. This represented 30 percent of the total white-owned commercial agricultural land of 4 240 626 hectares.
The Provincial Land Reform Office has delivered 283 186 hectares over the past 12 years. "PLARFO will deal, among other things, the brutalities that still occur in South Africa's agricultural sector," said Minister Xingwana.
allafrica.com
