FISHERIES ON THE OVERSIGHT VISIT TO THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC) AND THE ONDERSTEPOORT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS (OBP) IN PRETORIA, GAUTENG PROVINCE, DATED 11 MARCH 2014.

The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, having undertaken an oversight visit to the ARC and OBP in the Gauteng Province from 4 to 5 February 2014, reports as follows: 1. Background

The Agricultural Research Council (hereinafter referred to as ARC) and the Onderstepoort Biological Products (hereinafter referred to as OBP) are public entities that reports directly to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (hereinafter referred to as the Department). The ARC was established in terms of Section 2 of the Agricultural Research Act, 1990 (Act No. 86 of 1990). It is the principal agricultural research institution in the county that provides agricultural research and technology development to support the agricultural community. The OBP was established in terms of the Onderstepoort Biological Products Incorporation Act, 1999 (Act No. 19 of 1999) and its mandate is to manufacture veterinary vaccines and related products to prevent and control animal diseases that impact on food security, human health and livelihoods.

For the past two financial years, i.e. 2011/12 and 2012/13 the Portfolio Committee observed that there was little collaboration between the ARC and OBP on research activities on livestock diseases and vaccine improvement; and the Committee was particularly concerned with outbreaks of diseases of economic importance that sometimes lead to the banning of South African products in some export markets, e.g. foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza, citrus black spot, etc. The Committee also observed that both entities, the OBP being a national key point, were also not getting sufficient Government funding to address challenges associated with outbreaks of diseases. Based on these observations, the Portfolio Committee recommended that the Department ensures that there is collaboration between the ARC and OBP on livestock disease-related programmes; and to consider increasing funding for the ARC and OBP, particularly for the refurbishment of research facilities and aged infrastructure.

1. Objective of the Visit

Part of the oversight responsibilities of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries over the work of the Department and its entities is to examine the Strategic Plans and associated Annual Performance Plans (APPs), as well as budgets of the Department and its six entities. In the 2010/11 financial year, additional funding was allocated to the ARC for the establishment of a state of the art foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) Facility for research on, and the manufacturing of, FMD vaccines. In 2012/13, the OBP received funding from National Treasury for upgrading and modernising the vaccine manufacturing facilities. The Committee took a resolution to undertake an oversight visit to the ARC and OBP to oversee progress in the establishment of the FMD Facility at the ARC, the vaccine manufacturing facilities at OBP and further progress regarding other Committee recommendations as outlined in the Committee's 2011/12 and 2012/13 Budget Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs). 2. Delegation

The delegation of the Committee composed of Mr M Johnson, ANC (Chairperson and Leader of the delegation); Ms NM Twala, ANC; Ms RE Nyalungu, ANC, Ms ME Pilusa-Mosoane, ANC and Ms A Steyn, DA. The delegation was supported by Ms A Kakaza, Committee Secretary; Ms N Mgxashe, Content Advisor, Ms N Qwabe, Committee Researcher (Agriculture and Forestry) and Ms N Diya, Committee Assistant.