6 The Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act, 2024 Act 39 of 2024 was published in the Government Gazette (52009) on 29 January 2025. The Act was assented to by the President on 20 December 2024 but has not yet commenced. We await further directions from the Government on when exactly the Act will be promulgated and come into operation. This Act can be seen as a positive step forward on the part of the Government in: “RECOGNISING that it is in the national interest to preserve and promote the sustainable development of agricultural land for the production of food and other agricultural products for the primary purpose of sustaining and enhancing human life for the benefit of present and future generations. RECOGNISING FURTHER the need for a national regulatory framework to coordinate the preservation and development of agricultural land in a proactive manner, to prevent the fragmentation of agricultural land, to minimise the loss of agricultural land, to promote viable farming units, to encourage the optimal use of agricultural land and to provide for food security; ACKNOWLEDGING that high value agricultural land is a scarce and non-renewable resource and that the pressures exerted on agricultural land make it increasingly difficult to effectively and sustainably produce sufficient food;” [Preamble to the Act]. The Act also arises out of the State’s appreciation that it is a constitutional imperative to protect the environment, secure the sustainable development of natural resources, and ensure that everyone has access to food by preserving and ensuring the optimal use of agricultural land. Time will tell whether this Act is a tool for the greater good. Objects of the Act The objects of this Act are to— (a) promote the preservation and sustainable development of agricultural land; (b) establish evaluation and classification systems for agricultural land; (c) demarcate protected agricultural areas to ensure that agricultural land is preserved and protected against non-agricultural uses in order to promote long-term agricultural production; (d) implement a coordinated national framework, including norms, standards and authorisations for the use of agricultural land to — (i) promote and encourage viable farming units from a long-term economic, environmental and social perspective; (ii) discourage land use changes from agricultural to non-agricultural uses to prevent the fragmentation of the agroecosystems; and (iii) facilitate concurrent land uses on agricultural land without jeopardising long term food security; (e) provide for mitigating measures to counteract the loss of agricultural land and the impact of non-agricultural developments on agricultural production capacity; and (f) establish a national agro-eco information system with geo-referenced information to support the objects of this Act. The Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act – Natasha Cluckie – Senior Legal Counsel –
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyNjA0