Newly appointed agriculture minister John Steenhuisen is a man on a mission.
He has committed to focusing on biosecurity and increased [agriculture] production – as well as finding new markets for South African products.
In an interview with the Sunday newspaper City Press, Steenhuisen said he had told parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture that he would be “very loud in the Cabinet to get things done”.
“I will be going to other ministries, knocking on their doors to advance the interests of the economy and stakeholders such as the farmers and farmworkers.”
He sees the agriculture sector as an ideal vehicle for job creation, particularly in view of the number of unskilled job seekers, FairPlay points out, quoting the interview.
The creation of a comprehensive and coherent policy environment to ensure that the sector keeps up with technology and innovation from around the world is also high on his agenda.
“If you look at the agriculture and agri-processing master plan adopted in 2022 with broad support from industry, the real bottlenecks lie in rail, roads, ports and harbours. Safety and security, the collapse of municipal infrastructure, with sewage going into water schemes, damages crops and really puts them at risk.”
