At the weekend at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria, President Mbeki, accompanied by senior Cabinet Ministers including Ministers of Agriculture & Land Affairs, Trade & Industry and Labour as well as Deputy Ministers of Agriculture & Land Affairs, Safety & Security and Finance and senior government officials and special advisors, met the leadership of Agri SA and the National Agricultural Farmers Union (Nafu).

The focus of the bosberaad was on the implementation of the agriculture sector plan and, particularly, the draft land acquisition strategy, progress on the commodity approaches and support mechanisms in the agricultural sector.

All participants welcomed the encouraging progress report on the implementation of the agriculture sector plan.

Nafu and Agri SA reiterated their commitment to the plan and further expressed their willingness to collaborate with government towards the accomplishment of the intended objectives of the agriculture sector plan.

The remaining and ongoing challenges include safety and security, agricultural research land prices, and market access negotiations.

Progress on land redistribution was highlighted, and 450 000 ha of land have been redistributed through the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme (LRAD).

All the parties agreed that the process of land redistribution needed to be accelerated, that the issues of land prices and farmer support are central, and the discussion explored a range of approaches to expediting the programme.

The meeting agreed on the need for clear and distinct strategies for land acquisition with respect to facilitating the implementation of the restitution process, separately but in alignment with the LRAD programme.

A task-team, comprising representatives from government, Nafu and Agri SA, will be established in order to take the work forward.

The proposed task team will report back at the next Commercial Agriculture Presidential Working Group meeting.

In the discussion on development strategies for agricultural products, it was agreed that priorities focus on the broad economic trajectory of South Africa. Critical issues entail provision of appropriate infrastructure, acquisition of land, post-production processing and marketing, partnerships and capacity to deliver.

These issues will be discussed in detail through inter-departmental and stakeholders' forums under the aegis of the National Department of Agriculture.

The strategies would address black economic empowerment, market access, information and communication, technological innovation and transfer, supply chains, logistics, market intelligence and human resources development.

The Department of Agriculture will work with the Department of Trade and Industry to integrate agriculture commodity development strategies with the Integrated Manufacturing Strategy.

A draft Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme was endorsed by the meeting as the basis for the further development of services to farmers.

Minister Erwin briefed the meeting on post-Cancun processes regarding negotiations on agriculture, which seem more positive than initially appeared in the post-Cancun environment.

Nafu and Agri SA acknowledged progress and further reiterated their appreciation of government's efforts regarding the Doha development round.

President Mbeki and Government welcomed the processes on the unification of commercial agriculture in South Africa and accepted an invitation to participate in the centenary of organized agriculture to take place in October 2004.

The meeting agreed that all role-players in agriculture should combine their efforts to develop an integrated agricultural strategy.

To accomplish this a task team consisting of the National Department of Agriculture, the DTI, the Department of Land Affairs, Agri SA, Nafu and other relevant bodies would be assembled to produce a draft report by mid-December, and a final integrated strategy by February 2004.