NAMC CEO Thshililo Ramabulana hailed the event, which focused on contemporary agriculture matters such as drought, high food prices and transformation issues, as a huge success. He says the verious roleplayers will now focus on implementation of certain agreements:

“There are a couple of issues that we have agreed that we need to roll out as an industry. The commitment from the Minister was that we are going to try and have sessions like this twice a year, beginning before the Government planning process.

“In the middle of the year we will review progress on some of the agreements we have made but towards the end of the year we will have a second symposium which will look at whether there has been progress.”

The keynote address was delivered by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana. According to Ramabulana, the Minister committed himself to ensuring continued dialogue withthe agriculture  industry, as well as creating avenues for agri sector roleplayers to engage with the Presidency.

Panellists included, among others, the likes of: Agbiz CEO Dr John Purchase; Ben Cousins of PLAAS (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies); Katishi Masemola of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU); Siyabulela Tsengiwe, Chief Commissioner the International Trade Administration Commission of SA (ITAC) André Jooste, (Industry specialist); and Konanani Liphadzi, Fruit Industry Chief.

Sabrina Dean/OFM News