Welcome and opening address by the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Lulama Xingwana (MP) Youth Summit on Agrarian and Land Reform, Saint George Hotel, in Irene, Pretoria

Programme Director
Directors-General in the Ministry
Deputy Directors-General in the Ministry
Senior Management staff
Middle Management staff
Officials' from the Youth Desk in the Presidency
Umsombovu Representatives
Ladies and gentlemen

It gives me pleasure to preside over the opening of the 2007 Youth Summit on Agrarian and Land Reform and to welcome you most cordially to the Saint George Hotel in Irene, Pretoria. I would firstly like to thank the valuable work done by officials of the Departments of Agriculture, Land Affairs, the Youth Desk in the Presidency and all those who were involved in ensuring that this summit takes off the ground.

All this support and in particular, the enthusiastic response of the youth from all the provinces of our country has made it possible for the 250 delegates to come together on the first day of the three day summit. To the youth, I would like to say that the Ministry for Agriculture and Land Affairs is opening this dialogue with you in an endeavour to increase your participation in agriculture and therefore address the issues of reducing hunger, fighting poverty and unemployment.

In fact the participation of youth in agriculture and rural development was initiated at the World Congress of Rural Women (WCRW) held in Durban in April 2007, when young people formed a steering committee with the aim to launch a national structure of the sector.

Subsequently, Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development (YARD) was formed in the Eastern Cape. Tomorrow after my keynote address I will launch YARD Entrepreneurship Networking Forum whose objectives, among others, are:

* to promote and develop excellence in Agriculture amongst youth and to create awareness of the need to improve agricultural activities in order to ensure food security and economic stability in the country
* to promote economic equity for youth and increase awareness about the negative impacts of globalisation on youth, their families and their communities and the environment.

During my Budget Vote speech in Parliament early this year I reiterated on the need to further support the role of youth in the communities within you which you live. I announced that a youth summit in the agricultural sector will take place before the end of the year and indeed this evening marks the beginning of that dream. It is also remarkable for me to note that most of our provincial departments have already held their respective provincial summits; this then means that this three-day summit will therefore consolidate discussions emanating from the provinces.

I am fully convinced that the work that will be developed over the next three days will contribute to improving the youth participation in agriculture and rural development and that this summit will be a success. It will be a success because I see already on the proposed programme the very high participation from the Director-Generals of the Departments of Agriculture and Land Affairs and other relevant structures like Umsombovu Youth Fund, National African Farmers Union of South Africa (NAFU) and National Emergent Red Meat Producers Organisation (NERPO).

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that our participation in this summit will allow us to make further headway in achieving youth involvement in agriculture and rural development.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
4 August 2007