Reform, water top farmers’ talks

Safety also among leading topics discussed at annual Agri EC congress

Land reform and social cohesion in South Africa should be led by the agricultural community and farmers, and the government and politicians should not be left to address these issues alone. This is the view Agri SA president Johannes Moller expressed when speaking at the annual Agri Eastern Cape congress held in Port Alfred last week.

Moller said he was surprised at how little attention had been paid to land reform in the lead-up to last week’s local government elections.

“There was much less talk about the burning issue of land reform than I expected,” he said.

“Race, on the other hand, received much more attention than I thought I would see. It became really messy.”

He said it was clear that racial issues should not be left to politicians, but that society at large should take the lead.

“This election has proven that white people can vote for black leaders, and [vice versa],” he said.

“And it was good to see how little support extreme political parties received.”

The congress, held on Thursday and Friday, involved two days of discussions on issues like water affairs, land reform and farm safety.