Govt needs to take agriculture seriously, urges Agri SA’s Moller

13th October 2016

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

  

Font size: - +

Agriculture and food security need to become priorities on government’s agenda, as it has a significant impact on the economy, says Agri SA president Johannes Moller.

“We view food security as one of the State’s primary responsibilities, and we would expect policy and economic application to be geared towards enhancing this sector and not to hamper it,” he told attendees at the 2016 Agri SA Congress, in Centurion.

Moller further revealed that, amid the ongoing drought, the organisation’s Drought Disaster Fund, which was started in collaboration with Media24 and Senwes, had assisted over 13 000 commercial farmers in the last year. The fund had raised R16-million from 1 300 donors.

The fund has also assisted 3 053 emerging farmers.

However, he pointed out that the country was still in the grip of the drought and called on the corporate sector and general public to continue with their financial contributions to the drought fund.

Meanwhile, Moller highlighted that, although it was seen as a threat to agricultural jobs, it was imperative for farmers to embrace innovation and technology changes brought on by the fourth industrial revolution.


“We will not escape this. If we want to stay internationally competitive, we need to stay at the forefront of technology,” Moller urged.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION