agri Nuus/News
Food security, transformation and prosperity in spotlight at commodities conference JOHAN PIENAAR, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AGRI SA
The Commodity Chamber of Agri SA hosted a conference with the theme: agricultural commodities – for food security, transformation and prosperity on 25 and 26 February.
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his followed a previous discussion with the deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries General Bheki Cele last year during which two commodity organisations, the National Wool Growers Association and Grain SA, were granted the opportunity to discuss certain key issues such as transformation and developmental potential in the respective organisations. The deputy minister indicated at the time that he wanted similar discussions with all commodity organisations. The conference held recently can be regarded as a preparatory phase in this process as the deputy minister indicated that a further imbizo is to be held to delve deeper into the issues confronting the sector and to deal with policy imperatives such as transformation and the role assigned to the sector in the National Development Plan. In his opening address at the conference General Cele also specifically referred to “his” mandate being one of food security, increasing the contribution of the sector to the economy and how to improve the distribution of food nationally and internationally. Prof Nick Vink, guest speaker at the conference, indicated that the conference was essentially a strategic planning session and he referred to elements in the economic,
social, natural, technical and political environment the sector is confronted with. He made specific mention of the new technology dispensation in relation to plant breeding, information and production techniques that will have to be adopted to remain competitive. He also referred to drought cycles in the past, which could be repeated after the current drought the country is facing, necessitating related planning even at this early stage. The conference paid in depth attention to the vulnerability of the sector in relation to natural disasters. The application of the provisions of the Disaster Management Act was discussed and it became clear that application thereof, especially with regard to response time, leaves a lot to be desired. It was also shared with the conference that South Africa is basically the only western country where multipara crop insurance attracts no government support. There was general agreement that developing a proper insurance scheme will obviate the need to deal with disaster related issues on an ad hoc basis, which is preferable. The conference discussed energy matters in respect of the agricultural sector and the negative terms of trade between electricity and agricultural commodities was specifically alluded to, i.e. electricity tariff increases outstripping commodity prices by
far. If and how the agricultural sector should participate in the provision of green energy, what is required in terms of political will and participation by the government, grid tied options for the sector, electricity banking options for the sector and in general more affordable energy for the sector were discussed. In depth attention was paid to animal health and food safety matters and the general view was that these matters should also be dealt with in a disaster management context, especially with respect to cross border transferable animal diseases. Maintaining international competitiveness was also discussed within the context of securing agricultural profits and growth. This also hinges on agricultural policies such as the agricultural policy action plan and the National Development Plan and will also be dealt with in this context. Santam Agri, despite being one of the sponsors of the event, also donated R2 million to Agri SA’s drought relief fund. Participants to the conference expressed their sincere gratitude in this regard.
Thank you to our sponsors N SO
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Thank you Santam Agriculture Gerhard Diedericks (head: Santam Agriculture), deputy minister Bheki Cele (deputy minister agriculture, forestry and fisheries), Phenias Gumede (Agri SA deputy president), and Johannes Möller (Agri SA president) with a cheque to the value of R2 million in aid of Agri SA’s Drought Relief Fund assisting farmers, farm workers and farming communities in South Africa affected by drought. The donation is from Santam Argriculture.
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