The Chairperson of Grain SA,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for inviting me to this very important congress. Let me start by congratulating the new leadership. We wish you all the best in your tasks of ensuring food security in our country.

Grain farmers in South Africa hold one of the most important positions in society, as without food we cannot live, and without the skilled and experienced farmers who produce this staple food, we cannot survive.

I therefore want to thank you for being a supplier in one of our most basic human needs. But more than that, I want to thank you for undertaking this task with a unique passion and dedication that can only be witnessed with South African farmers, who are said to be amongst the most efficient farmers in the world.

Grain South Africa represents a total of 18 000 grain producers, representing approximately 90% of all grains produced in South Africa. This makes you a very key sector in our food production chain. I am told that grain farmers produce at least 9 million tons of grain annually in order to address the basic food needs of 45 million people. We are pleased and grateful that you have taken this responsibility very seriously.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Constitution states that every citizen has the right to have access to sufficient food and water, and that the state must by legislation and other measures within its available resources, assist people to enjoy these rights.

The pursuit of national and household food security is thus a constitutional mandate for the ANC government.

We have to create an environment which ensures that there is adequate food available to all, now and in the future. We must also ensure that there are adequate safety nets and food emergency systems.

South Africa's grain farming sector also has a far broader significance, providing also for a number of neighbouring countries, particularly in times of shortage. It thus contributes to regional stability and development and advances the agenda of a broader African renewal.

The ANC pays particular attention to agriculture because the sector is critical for the economic development of rural areas and the country as a whole.

It has the potential to create work, sustainable livelihoods and small business development in rural communities.

Our view is that agriculture can also raise rural incomes and build local economies and ensure the efficient production of affordable food and other goods.

Agriculture also provides the opportunity to assure food security for the poorest, and to contribute to a climate of low inflation. It is central to the history of this land and its entire people. As a nation, agriculture is in our blood.

It is against this background that we took resolutions at our conference in Polokwane to transform land and agriculture. It is a matter of concern that since 1994, commercial agriculture has continued to develop in a manner that is characterised by amongst others a growing monopoly ownership, capital intensity, job-shedding and the casualisation of labour.

The ANC has put forward a progressive programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change. It includes the extension of quality government services, particularly health and education, to rural areas.

The programme also includes addressing the question of the insecurity of tenure among farm dwellers and people living in the former Bantustans which hinders rural development.

When people live in constant fear of evictions, with nowhere to go, they cannot engage in productive activity or live normal lives. It is therefore in the interests of the farming community, government, the rural poor and others, that we work together to ensure a smooth redistribution of 30% of agricultural land before 2014.

We emphasise that the redistribution must include comprehensive support programmes and monitoring to assist the rural poor - farm workers, farm-dwellers and small farmers. I am sure that our farmers would be willing to assist in providing such assistance.

With regards to black economic empowerment, the AgriBEE Charter intends to facilitate broad-based black economic empowerment in the agricultural sector. Such empowerment would be in the areas of ownership, management control, employment equity, skills development, enterprise development, preferential procurement and corporate social investment.

Grain farming therefore presents the opportunity not only to address food security, but also to deal with poverty by uplifting emerging farmers to become commercially viable and sustainable.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are also mindful of the fact that many farms and rural areas are exposed to the scourge of crime, especially violent crime.

We are also concerned that there are still people in rural areas who remain vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. We must emphatically say that we should not tolerate criminal activity of any sort - the attacks on farmers, farm workers, labour tenants, or any citizens living in rural areas. We must support the police in ensuring that our farms are safe for all.

We must equally emphasise that we will not tolerate the abuse of farm workers and farm dwellers, and that we should work together with the farming community to eradicate this scourge where it rears its ugly head.

Ladies and gentlemen, the advent of the bio-fuel industry in South Africa affords the farmers - both commercial and emerging - another market channel for their surplus grain stock. Surpluses can be sold to bio-fuels companies assuring them of this market outlet thereby enhancing their income.

As a result of climate change, many countries are considering the use of biofuels. As you would be aware, the ANC government for example, has authorised the establishment of a Biofuels Task Team to develop an alternative fuels strategy for the country.

The biofuel industry thus can contribute towards the development of the second economy and enhance small business development. However we caution that in pursuing these opportunities, food security should not be compromised.

In December last year the ANC government approved the Bio-fuels strategy, clearly excluding maize for the first phase of the strategy, from 2008 to 2013.

Maize, the staple food of the majority of the poor in our country, cannot be used as feedstock for bio-fuels production as we are concerned about food security and possible price increases.

The majority of our citizens are already very concerned about the rising food prices. For example, the average maize price increase was 28% and sugar rose by 12.6% around this time last year, according to the Food Price Monitoring report issued by the National Agricultural Marketing Council.

I must stress that we are determined to provide as much support as we can to farmers to make the commercial agricultural sector productive and successful. The transformation we are pursuing is not intended to negatively affect farming, but to strengthen it, expand it and make it more sustainable.

Many farmers are willing to work with the ANC government to promote a human rights culture and to protect the rights of farm workers and farm dwellers. Some are already doing a lot to promote the well being of their workers.

We believe that we should not shy away from sensitive issues. Transformation issues should be thoroughly debated. To engage and communicate is the answer of most of the contentious issues we face.

The most important message I bring you today - is that South Africa needs you. We want you to be successful in the important work you are doing for the country.

We need to work together to strengthen grain farming, and also to make it sustainable and successful for the sake of all South Africans and future generations.

I wish you well in all your programmes and activities.

I thank you.