Golf Estates with hunting, gave him a little collage to the outgoing Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs in South Africa recently.

Elitist resources Guzzlers

Seen as elitist and unnecessary changes to eat two prime agricultural performance and low water use, the minister would be a restriction imposed in any future golf area.

Minister Lulu Xingwana interrupts the recent decline in agricultural production in a time when the population growth and food supply is just meeting demand.

The global shortage of rice in recent years and the failure of the neighbors of Zimbabwe to feed its people have shown entirely on the reduction of food resources. This in turn leads to much finger pointing in South Africa and aboard.

No empirical facts support the comments of Minister

Although there may be some credence to the concern Xingwana, no empirical study was conducted to determine the benefits of commercial agriculture, or more stations or golf game farms and not many experts out there who believe the opposite with respect to golf real estate.

There are several actions to strengthen environmental legislation, if agricultural land, conservation areas and golf properties. So if the developers of golf followed the letter of the law, there is no reason to believe are Guzzlers resources.

Legislation to protect land and resources

According to the Conservation of Agricultural Resources (Law 43 of 1983), all the natural resources of agriculture are protected by law in respect of property development courses. Included in the Act:

• Soil Conservation
• Water Conservation
• The conservation of native vegetation
• The fight against weeds and invasive plants
• Sustainable irrigation, including the prevention or control of waterlogging, use and protection of vleis, swamps, streams and fountains, and regulate the flow of runoff

Golf Estates land use

Recent studies by golf gurus have indicated that up to 70% of the average golf course in South Africa is actually made of rough diamonds and other areas not games.

These areas generally have been completely renovated by developers with the suction of water, the invasive plant species to make way for native plants, trees and shrubs that form a pristine habitat full of all kinds of wildlife.

The remaining 30%, and may be lost to the indigenous inhabitants, but that the turf course, with its dense root system has many advantages as well. This included

• Decrease in runoff surface water that protects the topsoil from wind erosion and water
• Dirt can contain up to 20% of the land more than traditional crops breeding

Golf Playgrounds created from degraded land

Although there are no statistics on land use before it zoned for golf development, golf courses have been built much in landfills and areas severely damaged by the mining operation.

Another area of concern is the enormous amount of water used to irrigate golf courses. Is estimated at 10,800,000 gallons of water are used per year for golf, but most of them, including those found on the Garden Route, use of recycled wastewater or desalination plants to keep the greens and fairways in excellent condition.

Prior environmental impact studies

Farms proposed course is subject to an environmental impact study, which examined by the competent authorities. It is therefore wrong to say that there is still no control or regulation Golf properties in South Africa and which are harmful to agriculture in southern Africa.