Land reform and restitution got a boost in Trevor Manuel's 2009 Budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

An additional R1.8-billion is earmarked for rural development and agrarian reform, and the total budget for the next three years for reform and restitution rises to R20.3-billion.

"Increasing agricultural output, raising rural incomes, supporting small-scale farmers and investing in rural roads are key objectives of government's rural development strategy," Manuel told MPs.

"The budgets of the Illema/Letsema campaign, which distributes agricultural starter packs to poor households, the comprehensive agricultural support programme and allocations to targeted rural infrastructure projects receive a further R1.2-billion boost."

The Budget review noted that sharp food price increases over the past year have exposed South Africa's vulnerability, partly because domestic agricultural infrastructure has been neglected.

Accordingly the land and agrarian reform programme receives an additional R650-million over the medium-term to support infrastructure for vegetable and fruit production on 450 000ha of prime agricultural land in KwaZulu-Natal and dry-land crop production (i.e. without irrigation) on 400 000ha of land in the Eastern Cape.

These funds will also be used for soil preparation, rehabilitation of irrigation systems, fencing and storage facilities.

Since 1994, government has transferred about five million hectares of agricultural land to land reform beneficiaries. In addition to R12.7-billion already in the baseline, an additional R300-million is allocated to increase land redistribution by an additional 100 000ha over the spending period, and R400-million is allocated towards settling the remaining 4707 restitution claims by the end of 2011/12.

"Key to transforming rural livelihoods is to better enable small-scale farmers to use land more productively," Manuel told MPs.

"Improved support to farmers is important, but access to long-term finance is a critical ingredient too. Following good progress in repairing its integrity and in giving effect to its core mandate to support agricultural investment, government will also consider proposals by the board of the Land Bank to strengthen its balance sheet."