Part A - Strategic Overview and Outcomes
Chief Executive's Introduction
MAF is a sustainable development agency that brings to the table a deep and wide-ranging knowledge and experience of agriculture, horticulture, food, forestry and their associated industries
Last year, MAF produced its first SOI. That was preceded by a process in which we looked closely at the Ministry's core roles and responsibilities, and the conceptual linkages that connect those various, and quite varied, roles and responsibilities. The 2004/05 SOI is intended to focus our management effort on the high-level outcomes to which we are contributing, namely:
- Sector development – New Zealand's economic growth and prosperity are enhanced through high-performing and innovative sectors1.
- Safe and freer rules-based trade.
- Healthy New Zealanders.
- Sustainable management of natural resources – management of natural resources to meet the sustainable economic, environmental and cultural values, aspirations and obligations of New Zealanders.
MAF is a policy agency, a regulator and an operational delivery agency with a focus on economic, environmental and social benefits for New Zealand. What MAF brings to the table is a deep and wide-ranging knowledge and experience of agriculture, horticulture, food, forestry and of the people, institutions and processes employed in and around those sectors. MAF understands the impact of these activities on the wellbeing of the country.
International trade and the rules that govern it are at the centre of much of what MAF does and how we do it. New Zealand is very unusual amongst OECD nations in that the primary sectors and their associated industries contribute approximately 20 percent of GDP and 65 percent of merchandise exports. Our primary sectors are unusual internationally in that a very high percentage of their production is exported. For example, in the dairy industry, for every 100 litres of milk produced on New Zealand farms, 95 litres are directed to export markets. For the meat industry around 80 percent of total production is exported.
International trade and the rules that govern it are at the centre of much of what MAF does
It follows then that issues of market access, the rules of trade, and the barriers to trade are of overwhelming importance. For that reason, MAF, along with other agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), is heavily engaged in market access and trade liberalisation work. We are committed to improving market access for primary products by providing credible and trusted assurances to our foreign counterparts that New Zealand products meet the required standards of food safety, fitness for purpose or other standards that may be set.
Likewise, biosecurity demands expertise in biological processes and the rules of international trade. We can only control risks of new pests and diseases entering New Zealand within a risk- and evidence-based framework that will stand up to the scrutiny of trading partners. We can only impose conditions on the entry of products to New Zealand on the same basis that we would accept conditions on New Zealand products entering foreign markets.
Driving off MAF's well established experience and expertise in providing safety and suitability assurance for exported products, MAF has been asked to ensure a compatible regulatory framework for domestic food safety and suitability purposes, via NZFSA. In addressing the health and wellness of New Zealanders from both the food safety and biosecurity perspectives MAF will work in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) in delivering the shared outcome of Healthy New Zealanders.
The Biosecurity Strategy widens MAF's biosecurity focus to encompass environmental, aquatic and human health issues
MAF is committed to a managing for outcomes approach to its strategic planning, priority setting and operational performance. Key elements of this approach include:
- The MAF Policy Group is heavily committed to the Growth and Innovation Framework (GIF) objectives.
- More resources have been committed to MAF's trade policy work and to enhancing synergies between relevant parts of MAF engaged in trade and market access related work, especially in the food safety and biosecurity areas.
- The recent Biosecurity Strategy widens MAF's focus on biosecurity to encompass environmental, aquatic and human health issues, as well as the more traditional economic biosecurity risks, and this fits well with the sustainability theme running through MAF's outcome framework.
- NZFSA is progressing rapidly with its review of the domestic food regulatory programme.
- A Māori responsiveness strategy has been developed which provides a platform for the whole organisation to build on as we seek to ensure that we engage effectively with Māori. This is important because Māori have significant interests in the land-based industries. If we can be effective in raising the productivity of Māori-owned businesses we can materially enhance the prosperity of all New Zealanders.
- MAF Policy is heavily engaged in work on climate change, water quality and allocation, and other aspects of the Sustainable Development Programme of Action.
Enhancing our organisational capability in pursuit of our outcomes and building the future MAF
Underpinning our outcome-oriented work is the base of organisational capability. We cannot pursue the outcomes to which we are committing if we lack the infrastructure and administrative capacity to support our front line efforts, to plan, prioritise, monitor and report. We will upgrade our capacity to plan, collate, manage and share essential information, to manage our key assets – including people and systems – and to communicate effectively with our stakeholders and the public generally.
The years ahead will be challenging as we implement changes arising from the Biosecurity Strategy, put into effect the new priorities arising from our outcome and intermediate outcome framework, and build the capability needed to support the Ministry into the future.
1 Sectors – encompasses the agricultural, horticultural, food and forestry sectors.
Contact for Enquiries
Strategy and Performance Group
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0738
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