Page 558 - Demo

Estimates of the Provincial Revenue and Expenditure (EPRE) %u2013 2025/26 Financial YearThis has been translated by the Province into the Provincial Medium Term Development Plan (P MTDP), which is driven through the 9 Key Integration Areas (KIA), of which the department is the leader of Food Security, Land Reform and Agriculture Commercialization. The Department is a contributor to the following KIA: - %uf0b7 Anti-Poverty and Sustainable Livelihood %uf0b7 Inclusive Economic Growth %uf0b7 Infrastructure, Human Settlements and Broadband %uf0b7 Social cohesion, moral regeneration, community safety and GBVF The Department is aligned to the Provincial Medium Term Development Plan (P-MTDP) 2025 -2030 and also implementing the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP);which is a blueprint of government that seeks to put the sector on a growth trajectory driven by inclusivity, collaborations, and partnerships. Through the set interventions the department seeks to drive the main pillars of the AAMP, that are pertinent to provinces, which are: - %uf0b7 Investing in, and maintaining enabling infrastructure critical to industry, such as electricity, roads, rail and ports. %uf0b7 Providing comprehensive farmer assistance, development finance, R&D and extension services %uf0b7 Improving food security, increasing production and employment and ensuring decency and inclusivity %uf0b7 Facilitating market expansion, improving market access, and promoting trade %uf0b7 Improving localised food production, reducing imports and expanding agro-processing exports. Furthermore, the department has also set specific targets in line with district commodity value chain development. 2 REVIEW OF THE CURRENT FINANCIAL YEAR (2024/25) 2.1 Key achievements The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture (DoA) has significantly endorsed sustainable interventions focusing on agriculture and its related agro-procession processes during the 2024-25 financial year. Key achievements include progress in agribusiness development, research and technology, farmer capacity building, infrastructure development, and some initiatives to address food insecurity. The department continued with the initiative of Agriculture and Agro-Processing Value Chain Blended Finance blended finance working with ECRDA and ECDC, as such an investment of over R50 million for 29 enterprises in different commodities was recorded. The commodities include; Pineapple, Poultry, Grain, Mixed, Livestock, Macadamia Nuts, Cannabis, Dairy, Vegetables, Chicken and Sorghum. There are valuable lessons learned in its implementation which serve as a clear compass for future implementation of the Scheme. Collaboration with the industry and Development Finance Institutions in augmenting and leveraging the existing funding for commercialisation of agriculture. In the 2024/25 financial year, the import substitution implementation was piloted to improve poultry production efficiencies of smallholder producers. The efficiencies were to be improved through production of oilseeds that are required for feed manufacturing and better genetics or quality chicks and fertile eggs. In the current year, there was a focus on the oilseed production in 2300 ha; and the supply of day old chicks and poultry feed to 100 broiler producers. The oilseed production pillar was implemented through grain partnership by planting soybean in Alfred Nzo, Amathole, Chris Hani, Joe Gqabi and OR Tambo grain corridors and benefitted around 354 smallholder producers. 537