PRESENTATION FOR THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

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PRESENTATION FOR THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

• Progress report by the Department of Agriculture,
  Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) on
• DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT.
• 30 JANUARY 2014

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Purpose of the presentation

• The purpose of the presentation is to update the
  Portfolio Committee on the following
• Progress reports on Plans and Response Strategy
  for Disaster Management in the sector with regard
  to veld fires, drought and floods

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Introduction

• The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and
  Fisheries (DAFF) facilities the implementation of
  Disaster Risk Management in the sector through
  the Disaster Management Act (Act 57 of 2002)
  amongst other legislations.
• The DAFF prioritises the disaster risk reduction
  phase as emphasised by the Disaster Management
  Act where activities aimed at disaster risk
  avoidance, prevention, mitigation and
  preparedness are performed.
• The disaster response and recovery follows the
  disaster risk reduction phase in cases of
  disaster occurrences.

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Disaster Response and Management

• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Mitigation and Prevention
• DAFF is implementing disaster risk mitigation and
  prevention fund through MTEF period.
• This fund implement programmes and projects aimed
  at prevention and mitigation of disaster risks
  i.e. drilling of boreholes, construction of
  firebreaks, creating awareness in the farming
  communities as well as conducting research in
  disaster risk management amongst others.
• Early Warning System
• One of the disaster risk reduction tools
  implemented by DAFF is an Early Warning System
  whereby monthly advisories and daily extreme
  weather warnings are disseminated to the farming
  community for proper response. DAFF follows the
  advisories in the provinces to clear the
  challenges posed by the dissemination channels.

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Disaster Response and Management

• DAFF further utilises media to disseminate the
  early warning information in the provinces.
• Awareness and Capacity Building
• DAFF embarks on awareness campaigns on disaster
  risk management in the provinces for officials
  and farmers. The capacity buildings further
  address the understanding, interpretation and
  usage of weather and climate to agriculture for
  disaster risk reduction.

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Disaster Response and Management

• Research
• Other activities include research to identify
  areas and measures in addressing disaster risk
  management in the sector.
• Currently three research projects are being
  conducted with the Agricultural Research Council,
  namely Sensitivity of crop suitability in South
  Africa to climate change, Mitigation and
  adaptation to climate variability and change in
  Thabo Mofutsanyane district (Biogas production)
  and Weather forecast information dissemination in
  two selected provinces of South Africa.
• Disaster Risk Management Policies
• DAFF developed disaster risk management policies
  and enforce compliance through the provincial
  department.

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Disaster Response and Management

• Prevalent disaster related occurrences and
  Disaster Assistance Schemes
• Floods
• Heavy rains resulting in floods are amongst
  recurrent disaster related in the country.
• Western Cape Province has been mostly affected
  and several Flood Assistance Schemes have been
  established and implemented in the past years.
• Priority regarding assistance is on the repair of
  damaged infrastructure.

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Disaster Response and Management

• Flood Assistance Schemes
• The 2011 Flood Assistance Schemes
• Funding has been approved by National Treasury
  for the floods that occurred in the six provinces
  (Limpopo, Eastern Cape, North West, Gauteng, Free
  State, and Northern Cape) between December 2010
  and February 2011.
• Approved funding is as per verification and
  costing undertaken by the National Disaster
  Management Center (NDMC) with the Department of
  Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
  (CoGTA).
• Funding is made available in phases to provinces.
• Implementation of this scheme is underway in all
  six provinces with the focus on infrastructure
  repairs.
• Most of the repair work has been completed and
  the scheme is to be finalised in 2014/15
  financial years.

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Disaster Response and Management

• DAFF continues to monitor implementation and also
  provide support to the province.
• The support is more on Northern Cape Province due
  to enormous repair work to be done and huge
  allocation approved by National Treasury.
• Financial progress for Quarter 2 (JAS 2013) as
  submitted by provinces

Provinces Amount allocated Expenditure Committed funds Balance spent
Eastern Cape 2,990,000.00 0.00 0.00 2,990,000.00 0
Free State 8,969,000.00 3,267,870.20 0.00 5,701,129.80 36
Gauteng 4,484,000.00 0.00 526,632.30 3,957,367.70 0
Limpopo 14,948,000.00 0.00 9,649,588.70 5,298,411.30 0
Northern Cape 263,084,000.00 204,063,419.00 0.00 59,020,581.00 78
North West 4,484,000.00 862,616.39 231,527.59 3,389,856.02 19
TOTALS R 298,959,000.00 R 208,193,905.59 R 10,407,748.59 R 80,357,345.82 70
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Disaster Response and Management

• The 2013 Flood Assistance Scheme
• The funding request was approved by National
  Treasury for the floods that occurred in Western
  Cape in 2011 as well as floods of 2012 in Limpopo
  and Mpumalanga Provinces.
• Funding approval was done by National Treasury
  during the Budget Adjustment Period for the
  current financial year (2013/14).
• DAFF established 2013 Flood Assistance Scheme for
  the three provinces and funding is made available
  in instalments through budget adjustment and MTEF
  period.

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Disaster Response and Management

• The breakdown for the 2013 Flood Assistance
  Scheme is as follows

Provinces 2013/14 Allocations (Budget Adjustment)   (R000) 2014/15 Allocations   (R000) 2015/16 Allocations     (R000)
Limpopo (2012 floods)   R2 475 R10 312   R7 837
Mpumalanga (2012 floods) R303 R1 263   R960
Western Cape (2011 floods) R1 517 R183 942 R4 804
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Disaster Response and Management

• Drought
• Dry conditions were reported by several provinces
  within the country, this was due to less rainfall
  and high temperatures.
• Reports were submitted by Limpopo, Free State,
  North West and Northern Cape Provinces.
• The main need as identified by the provinces is
  feed and water to sustain livestock. However,
  relief to the province with regard to drought is
  mainly dependent on good farming practices and
  rainfall in order for the grazing veld to recover
  and for water sources to be recharged.
• Following the processes, a provincial state of
  disaster was declared in North West Province and
  an amount of R43 630 000.00 has been made
  available for livestock feed (R35 000 000.00) and
  water related infrastructure projects (R 8 630
  000.00). The distribution is currently underway
  in the province.
• Furthermore, a state of disaster is also approved
  in Northern Cape Province and the process to
  request funding is underway.

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Disaster Response and Management

• The other remaining provinces (Limpopo and Free
  State) have submitted necessary documents for the
  disaster to be declared.
• DAFF provides guidance and support regarding the
  procedure to be followed in disaster
  declarations.
• Veld fires
• Veld fire occurrences were reported in Gauteng,
  Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Limpopo Provinces
  however declarations were not done.
• Some provinces were able to make resources
  available to assist the vulnerable affected
  farming communities.

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Areas of concerns and Actions

• Area of concern - Prioritization of Disaster
  Assistance Schemes by farming communities versus
  risk reduction initiatives. Most farming
  communities are neglecting their responsibility
  regarding implementation of risk reduction
  initiatives and not accepting a reality that
  funding approval is dependent on the approval by
  National Treasury as well as the availability of
  funds within the National Revenue.
• Action - awareness campaigns and education and
  training to change the mindset of the past in
  prioritizing post disaster response and recovery
  phase.
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• Area of concern Funding methods used by
  National Treasury. The following are several
  concerns on the method used by National Treasury
• Funds are only made available during the Budget
  Adjustment Period or at the beginning of the
  financial year only regardless of when disasters
  have occurred.  The system poses a challenge as
  by the time funding is made available the farming
  communities that were affected are worse off and
  the damages have escalated.

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Areas of concerns and Actions

• Funds are made available over a maximum of 3
  years (MTEF period) regardless of the amount
  allocated to a province. Challenges are
  experienced when approved amounts are huge and
  repair works are on intensive infrastructure
  repairs which require approval from other
  government departments such as the Environmental
  Impact Assessment (EIA).
• Action Sessions are regularly arranged with the
  NDMC to discuss the areas of concern and DAFF
  also participates in relevant structures.
• Area of concern - Frequency of disaster related
  hazards and limited resources
• Action - emphasis on research and adaptation and
  encourage insurance on insurable commodities by
  farming communities

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Conclusion

• DAFF is currently implementing the prevention and
  mitigation of disaster risks fund over the MTEF
  period as a long-term measure in disaster risk
  management.
• Research indicates that many response measures
  and interventions especially on post disaster
  relief instituted by government, international
  organizations, agencies and donors, have actually
  increased vulnerability by fostering and
  increasing dependency on internal or external
  assistance.
• Hence the priority for Disaster Management Act
  (57 of 2002) is on disaster risk reduction
  particularly through strengthening of early
  warning systems and dissemination of early
  warning as well as awareness campaigns to build
  resilient farming communities. Climate change
  mitigation and adaptation have to be harmonized
  with integrative disaster risk reduction.

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THANK YOU