The agricultural master plan is in full swing and today vegetable industry stakeholders had the opportunity to give input. These are the top three things you should take note of happening in Mzansi’s dynamic agricultural space today.
1
Veg industry gives input for agricultural master plan
A meeting between the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and the vegetable industry took place this morning. The collaborative meeting was an opportunity for stakeholders to make input to the Agricultural and Agro-processing Masterplan (AAMP), on behalf of the vegetable industry.
On the discussion table was BFAP’s deep-dive approach to support the master plan. The independent research tank for the agro-food industry and the NAMC have been tasked to collaborate to assist in developing a research document which will be used as a referencing source for the development of the ultimate AAMP.
Part of the agenda was also to discuss inclusive growth areas for the local market (fresh and processing), as well as exports and import replacement. Participants will be contributing towards ensuring that market fundamentals such as market structure and product flow, supply and demand as well as competitiveness are captured correctly by BFAP.
2
Departmental office closures due to covid-19 exposure
The department of agriculture, land reform and rural development (DALRRD) have reported several immediate closures of departmental offices in different provinces due to cases of coronavirus exposure.
These offices are currently undergoing procedural decontamination processes as per covid-19 regulations and will reopen once sanitisations are done.
These offices are currently closed until further notice:
- Eastern Cape land restitution office at Beacon Bay Crossing, East London;
- National building office at 184 Jeff Masemola Street, Pretoria;
- Genetic resource building and official sees testing laboratory in Roodeplaat;
- Eastern Cape, provincial shared service in Quigney;
- Deeds registry office at 300 Pietermaritzburg Street;
These offices have reopened:
- Pretoria deeds and the surveyor general office at Merino building;
- Johannesburg deeds office;
- The south block building in Pretoria;
- The Capital Towers building in Pretoria CBD
The department has wished the infected and affected colleagues a speedy recovery and encourages the industry to comply with covid-19 regulations.
3
Open agricultural bursaries
A number of agricultural bursaries from various institutions and agri organizations are open for applications and future farmers are encouraged to submit applications before looming closing dates.
The Sugar Industry Trust Fund for Education are open to students and applicants who are registered or have applied in the fields of agriculture, science and engineering. Candidates can also be a child of a sugarcane farm worker who is registered or has applied for any field of study. Matriculants are also invited to apply. Find out more at www.sitfe.co.za
The Hortgro Bursary Programme is open to undergraduate or postgraduate students in the agriculture, agricultural economics and business management fields. Currently Hortgro funds students enrolled at accredited institutions in South Africa such as University of Pretoria, Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, University of Limpopo, University of the Free State, Cape Town University of Technology and Stellenbosch University. Find out more at www.hortgro.co.za
