DAFFOfficial newsletter of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

October 2017

Women honoured for excellence in the farming sector

Winners of DAFF Female Entrepreneur Awards with Mr Senzeni Zokwana, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The awards ceremony was made possible with the support of corporate partners: Total South Africa, Omnia, Old Mutual, Mondi, Manstrat Agricultural Intelligence Solutions and Sakata.

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 2

Departmental

Editor PiweMbiko (012)3196936 piwem@daff.gov.zaSubeditor LeratoMofokeng (012)3197927 leratomof@daff.gov.zaReporters SamuelKgatla (012)3197181 samuelk@daff.gov.za InnocentMhlanga (012)3197827 innocentm@daff.gov.za RonyMoremi (012)3196622 rincertm@daff.gov.za JamelaNkanyane (012)3196903 jamelan@daff.gov.za MerciaSmith (012)3196666 mercias@daff.gov.zaPhotographer JariusMmutle (012)3197366 jarusm@daff.gov.zaInterns LindaMabaso (012)3197819 lindamab@daff.gov.za ZiphoraRadebe (012)3196958 ziphorar@daff.gov.zaDistribution SheilaFlockton (012)3197141 sheilaf@daff.gov.zaWebsite:www.daff.gov.za

DAFFnewsisthenewsletteroftheDepartmentofAgriculture,ForestryandFisheries.PrivateBagX250,PRETORIA0001.ItispublishedbytheDirectorateCommunicationServices,PrivateBagX144,PRETORIA0001.

OpinionsexpressedinDAFFnewsarenotnecessarilythoseoftheeditorialteam.Nopartofthisnewslettermaybereproducedortrans-mittedinanyformorbyanymeans,includingphotocopying,recordingoranyinformationstorageorretrievalsystemwithoutpriorpermissionfromtheeditor.

For many years women’s participa-tion in the farming sector was mar-ginalised, especially because the sector was and is still male domi-nated. With South Africa working towards transforming major sectors previously dominated by one group or another, the Department of Agri-culture, Forestry and Fisheries saw it fitting to honour the women who have been excelling in the sector.

Top female farmers were recognised during the department’s prestigious Female Entrepreneur Awards cere-mony in Mpumalanga in August. The annual ceremony continues to pay tribute to the efforts and contribution by women, young females and women with disabilities for the roles they play towards ensuring food security, pov-erty alleviation, job creation and eco-nomic growth in the sector. This year, the programme was held under the theme “Proclaiming progress towards women’s empowerment.’’

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Mr Senzeni Zokwana ac-knowledged the efforts made by these women in alleviating poverty while contributing to the country’s economic growth and job sector. He further en-couraged the role players in the sector to make efforts to process produce lo-cally before it was exported.

“Whenever you export raw material

Women honoured for excellence in the farming sector

By Jamela Nkanyane

to p 3

Ms Busisiwe Nyathi, winner of Ministers’ Special Award: Disabled Female Entrepreneur is from Mpumalanga Province. She has been working at Zeleni Disabled Project, a three hectare communal land since 2009.

No. 10 DAFFnews October 2017 3

Departmental

overseas, you are exporting jobs,” he said.

However, he was delighted that 26 of the previous winners of the pro-gramme were now exporting to in-ternational markets, two of whom are from Mpumalanga. He emphasised that he would like the programme to develop with clear aspirations beyond the awards.

Excitement, joy, praises, and ulula-tion filled the room as the winners were announced in the different categories. Kedidimetse Rakgoale from North West was crowned the overall win-ner of the night. She also received an award in the Top Entrepreneur Com-mercial category. Rakgoale produces broiler chickens at the Selame Poultry farm and has created 14 permanent jobs. “I feel that I’m a woman who is also contributing towards feeding the nation. That’s why I’m so happy and I think these awards that I won are not only for me but for all of us women who are in farming,” said Rakgoale.

Other awards presented on the night were:Best Female Worker: Zona Nzi-mande from the Eastern Cape;Best Subsistence Producer: Kobanku Msibi from the Free State Province;Top Entrepreneur: Smallholder: Ju-lia Madihlaba from Limpopo Province; Top Entrepreneur: Processing and the Ministerial Award for Young Fe-male Entrepreneur: Berene Damons from Western Cape Province .

The Western Cape also walked away in victory with a third award for Top Entrepreneur: Export Markets which was handed to Carmelita Kelly, who was the first black person in 1995, to study and qualify as a wine maker in South Africa.

A second Ministerial Award for Dis-abled Female Entrepreneur went to Busisiwe Nyathi from Mpumalanga.

Winners in different categories walked away with prize money and tablets loaded with the Agrisuite app to help them with farming information and fer-tilisers.

“This is so close to my heart and I hope it inspires every young person out there, especially females to get into the agriculture market, take the risk, do your own thing don’t let any-one hold you back,” said Berene Da-mons in her celebratory mood.

Total South Africa has been a proud sponsor of the awards since their in-ception 18 years ago in 1999. Tshi-lidzi Ramuedzi who is the Innovation and Corporate Affairs Manager at To-tal South Africa said that they were extremely proud to participate in the programme as it acknowledged and celebrated women who continued to challenge the status quo.

“This event is key to our organisa-tion’s commitment to South Africa’s National Women’s Month in August every year, she said.

During an interview with the SABC, Minister Zokwana said the programme recognised women for their increased participation in the agricultural sector

although recent statistics have shown a decrease in women employed in ag-riculture.

“We hope that through this we can be able to absorb and get more wom-en to see the value of being in agricul-ture,” he reiterated.

Over 26 winners in the programme have shown improvement in market access as they have expanded their contracts of supply with retailers such as Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths, Shoprite and different pharmacies. Some of them are currently exporting their pro-duce to international markets, such as Mavis Mathabathe from Limpopo who exports Moringa to Swaziland and Botswana; Nomzamo Khoza from Kwa Zulu-Natal who exports Moringa to Mozambique; Thandi Mokwena from Mpumalanga who ex-ports Bananas to Oman in China and Nokwanele Mzamo from the East-ern Cape exports citrus to the Mid-dle East, Europe, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada and China. Vanecia Janse from the Eastern Cape exports Granny Smith apples and Forelle pears to the European Union, Asia and United States countries.

Women contributing towards feeding the nationfrom p 2

Ms Carmen Stevens, winner of Top Entrepreneur: Export Markets from the Western Cape Province.

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 4

Departmental

BEST FEMALE WORKERZona Nzimande from the Eastern

Cape won the Best Female Worker Award, walking away with R100 000 and a tablet preloaded with Agrisuite Online. She is a hard working young woman who works at the Meat Traders abattoir as an Environmental Practi-tioner and their main aim is to produce wholesome, clean products which are healthy for human consumption. She has vast experience in the meat indus-try. Nzimande is not only a farm work-er; she completed her Matric in 1988 and obtained a Diploma in Environ-mental Health from the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Kwa Zulu-Natal in 2003. She was recognised by her employer and has received several certificates due to her hard work and dedication.

BEST SUBSISTENCE PRODUCER

Kabanku Msibi from the Free State was awarded as the Best Subsist-ence Producer and walked away with R150 000, a tablet preloaded with

Agrisuite Online and R10 000 worth of fertilisers. Msibi is the founder of the family project, Lejwe-Motho Primary Cooperative, located in Namahadi vil-lage in the rural areas of Qwaqwa. The cooperative which comprises of five members was established in 2009 and they farm on a 0.5 hectare garden.

Operating from their backyard, their main aim is to produce vegetables in order to eradicate rampant house-hold food insecurity and poverty. Their vegetables are produced from qual-ity certified seeds, producing carrots, beetroot, spinach, cabbage, peppers, chillies, pumpkins, green beans, and herbs throughout the year.

They use manual labour to prepare the soil. Mulch which is made up of dead plant material is used as canopy on the soil surface to prevent exces-sive evapotranspiration. Msibi is re-sponsible for preserving the vegeta-bles using her indigenous knowledge of canning and drying. She currently obtains the following yields per month, depending on the season: 400 bunch-es of spinach per season, 200 bundles

of beetroot, 200 bundles of carrots, 100 heads of lettuce, 30 packs of chil-lies, 200 heads of cabbage, 400 bun-dles of radish, 120 bundles of onions, 15 bundles of herbs, 100 units of green pepper, 100 units of green beans and 250 units of pumpkin.

TOP ENTREPRENEUR: SMALLHOLDER

Julia Madihlaba from Thulani Dairy Farming Primary Co-operative in Lim-popo was awarded as the Top En-trepreneur in the smallholder sector. She received R250 000 and a tablet preloaded with Agrisuite Online.

The cooperative was initiated in 2009 by six (five females, one male) mem-bers from Groblersdal. They attained the 171 hectare farm through the Land Redistribution For Agricultural Devel-opment Programme. The minimum education qualification of the mem-bers is Grade 12; however they were trained in egg production and livestock management at the Tompi Seleka Ag-ricultural College. The main commod-ity of this enterprise is egg production, supported by other small activities to support the cash flow. They have three pack houses with a carrying capacity of 2400 layers per house and two other houses with a carrying capacity of 800 layers per house. The provincial De-partment of Agriculture and Rural De-velopment supported this cooperative with five layer houses equipped with cages, ventilation, feeders and drink-ers with a carrying capacity of 9600 laying chickens.

They collect a total of 206 199 qual-ity eggs per month from the five hous-es, and add value by grading and packaging their eggs for the market. They have a formal market with DAL Wholesalers in TafelKop, Good Price Cash and Carry in Groblersdal, MIAS Wholesale in Dennilton and also sell to hawkers depending on the availability

Female Entrepreneur Awards winners’ profiles

By Mosima Mabitsela

Ms Zona Nzimande from the Eastern Cape Province, winner of the catego-ry: Best Female Worker.

No. 10 DAFFnews October 2017 5

Departmental

of eggs. They have created employment for

five permanent workers and four sea-sonal workers; among them three youth and one woman. They also donate eggs to a nearby crèche and chicken manure to neighbouring farms. Learn-ers in the surrounding vicinity are also allowed by the members of the coop-erative to use the facility for excursions to develop their love for agriculture.

TOP ENTREPRENEUR: PROCESSING and MINISTE-RIAL SPECIAL AWARD for YOUNG FEMALE ENTREPRE-NEUR

The Top Entrepreneur Award in the Processing category and the Ministe-rial Special Award were awarded to 35

year old Berene Damons. She was of-fered a magnificent opportunity by Mr Hamilton Russel after she worked with him for fifteen years, to have her own wine processing business and join the rest of the Hemel-en-route area as a wine producer. With the expert assist-ance of Russel Vineyards winemaker Emul Ross and the entire Hamilton Russel Vineyards team, Tesselaarsdal Wines was founded in 2015 in Hamil-ton, Western Cape and it was named after the historic Overberg farming hamlet of Tesselaarsdal.

The business has secured grape pur-chases with Babylon Vineyards until 2021 and with Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge until Tesselaarsdal’s vineyards arese-cured and ready for harvest. Damons sells her wine both locally and inter-

nationally to SWIG Wines and Hanford Wines in the the United Kingdom; Vine-yard Brands in the United States of America and Oud Reuchlin and Boelen in The Netherlands. In South Africa she supplies Ultra Liquors, Distri Liquors, Jane Simon Wine Agencies, Team Liq-uor Leader Distributors and Norman Good Fellows both in Cape Town and Gauteng.

She has a long waiting list in both the national and international markets waiting for her to deliver the wines. The farm has received accolades in the fol-lowing: International Master of Wines Greg Sherwood, International Master of Wines Tim Atkins; media coverage on US Top Wine, Damon Quinlan of SWIG.

She won herself cash to the value of R250 000 in the Top Entrepreneur: Processing category:, R100 000 for the Young Female Entrepreneur Award and a tablet for each category preloaded with Agrisuite Online.

Damons advised the youth to take her achievement as encouragement and inspiration to a future in the agricul-tural sector.

TOP ENTREPRENEUR: EXPORT MARKETS

The award for the Top Entrepreneur in the Export Markets category was awarded to Carmen Stevens. She was the first black person to study and qualify as a wine maker in South Africa in 1995 and currently owns Carmen Stevens Wines (Pty) Ltd. Her compa-ny, which is 100% black female owned, produces both red and white premium quality table wines in Stellenbosch, Somerset West in the Western Cape. Carmen Stevens Wines (Pty) Ltd was established in 2011 but the owner has been making wine for 21 years. For the past four years she has been exporting wine under her own name.

The business specialises in sourc-ing premium fruit from different grape growing regions, negotiating the best possible price for grapes with constant vineyard management inputs. They process the fruit and turn it into wine through proper wine making process-es such as barrel ageing of the now, proper and continued quality control as well as blending and getting wine ready for bottling with the help of a

Ms Julia Madihlaba is the winner of the category: Top Entrepreneur: Smallholder.

Ms Kabanku Msibi, winner of the category: Best Subsistence Producer. Ms Msibi is the founder of the family project, Lejwe-Motho Primary Coop-erative, located in Namahadi village in the rural areas of Qwaqwa.

to p 6

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 6

Departmental

mobile bottling company. Then the process of bottle ageing and storing of the product starts until the wine is ready for the market.

Their biggest market is in the Unit-ed Kingdom and the United States of America. The wines are sold online and the business is hoping to gain entry into the Chinese market later in 2017 since talks are already under-way. In 2016, the company managed to sell 12 000 bottles of Red Blend, 12 000 of Shiraz, 12 000 of Pinotage, 48 000 of Shiraz (bulk), 24 000 0f Caber-net Franc/ Merlot blend (bulk), 24 000 of CBL (bulk), 13 000 bottles of Sau-vignon Blanc and 12 000 bottles of Chardonnay.

Stevens won herself R250 000 and a tablet preloaded with Agrisuite Online.

MINISTERIAL SPECIAL AWARD: DISABLED FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR

Busisiwe Cynthia Nyathi from Bush-buckridge, Mpumalanga won the award for Disabled Female Entrepre-neur in the Ministerial Special Awards, walking away with R100 000, a tablet preloaded with Agrisuite Online and R10 000 worth of fertilisers from Om-nia. She has worked at Zeleni Disabled Project, a three hectare communal land since 2009. With the aim of hav-ing a centre where people living with disabilities could come together for empowerment, the project was start-ed by 10 members led by Busisiwe and has since increased to 20 active members producing tomatoes, spin-

ach, sweet potatoes and onions of first grade quality.

TOP ENTREPRENEUR: COMMERCIAL and OVERALL WINNER

The overall winner of the awards is Kedidimetse Rakgoale, a commercial poultry farmer based in Hartebeesfon-tein near Klerksdorp in the North West. She was also voted as the Top Entre-preneur in the Commercial category. Rakgoale left her previous profession as a teacher, where she served for 18 years to start a broiler project. For her efforts, she won R500 000 in cash sponsored by Mondi and the Depart-ment of Agriculture, Forestry and Fish-eries for being the overall winner and an additional R250 000 for winning the Commercial category. She also received a tablet preloaded with Agris-uite Online.

Her poultry farm is a contract grower of high quality AA broiler chickens. It was bought by the Department of Ru-ral Development and Land Reform and leased to Rakgoale’s Selame Poultry Farm in 2013. The farm consists of six broiler houses fully equipped with a ca-pacity of 45 000 chickens each, control rooms and a dam. Each broiler has its own computer that is connected to the central computer in the office and each house has two feed silos of 18 tons and 12 tons, from where the feed auto-matically pumps into the feed pans in the houses. Between 2006 and 2013 the farm had over 44 cycle periods which produced more than 11.5 million birds. Currently the enterprise has 270 000 broilers per cycle (8 cycles) and an annual production of 2 160 000 birds that are supplied to Supreme Poultry. Selame Poultry has created 14 perma-nent jobs.

Rakgoale would like to use her prize money to improve her business and create more jobs.

Female Entrepreneur Awards winners’ profiles

Winner of Top Entrepreneur in the sector: Commercial Farmer, Ms Kedi-dimetse Rakgoale from Northern Province.

No. 10 DAFFnews October 2017 7

Departmental

As part of celebrating Women’s Month, the Department of Agricul-ture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) together with the Mpumalanga De-partment of Agriculture, Rural De-velopment, Land and Environmental Affairs ,Total South Africa, Omnia, Old Mutual, Mondi, Manstrat and Sakata honour women entrepre-neurs in the farming sector through the prestigious DAFF Female Entre-preneur Awards Programme.

This programme continues to honour the efforts and contribution of women, young females and women living with disabilities for the role they play in food security, poverty alleviation, job crea-tion and economic growth in the sec-tor.

The Department of Agriculture, For-estry and Fisheries held its Female Entrepreneur Awards (DAFF FEA) on Sunday at the Emnotweni Sun hotel in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Province. The overall winner of the awards was Rakgoale, a commercial poultry farm-er based in Hartebeesfontein near

Klerksdorp. She was also voted as the top entrepreneur in the commercial category.

The DAFF FEA awards are aimed at rewarding the efforts and contribu-tion of women, youth and people living with disabilities in the agricultural sec-tor. Rakgoale left her previous job as a teacher, which she had served for 18 years, to start a broiler project. For her efforts, dedication and hard work, she won R500 000 for being the over-all winner and an additional R250 000 and a tablet preloaded with agrisuite online for winning the commercial cat-egory.

She owns a poultry farm that is a contract grower of high quality AA broiler chickens for Supreme Chick-en; it was bought by the DRDLR and leased to Selame Poultry in 2013. The farm consists of six broiler houses fully equipped with a capacity of 45 000 chickens each, control rooms and a dam. Each broiler has its own com-puter that is connected to the central computer in the office and each house

From teacher to DAFF Female Entrepreneur Awards overall winner

has two feed silos of 18 tons and 12 tons from where the feed automatically pump into the feed pans in the houses. Between 2006 and 2013 the farm had over 44 cycle period and produced more than 11,5 million birds and cur-rently the enterprise has 270 000 broil-ers per cycle (8 cycles) and an annual production of 2 160 000 birds that are supplied to Supreme Poultry. Selame poultry has created 14 permanent jobs.

Minister Zokwana said in recognis-ing women excelling in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sectors: “Af-rican women continue to labour with outdate means such as the hoe, the pestle and the mortar; consequently, they can neither be productive nor provide substantial contribution to the economy. If women had the same ac-cess to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 30%. Women constitute 52% of the continent’s population, there-fore, their voices and role cannot be ignored”.

“Mosadi o swara thipa ka bogaleng”

By Mosima Mabitsela

Overall winner of DAFF Female Entrepreneur Awards 2017, Ms Kedidimetse Rakgoale from North West Province with Ms Senzeni Zokwana, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.Her poultry farm is a contract grower of high quality AA broiler chickens.

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 8

Departmental

Indigenous food crops refer to crops that have their origin in South Africa. Added to these crops are those that were introduced into the country and are now recognised as traditional crops. Many indigenous crops are environmentally sustain-able, improve food security, help prevent malnutrition and increase income in households.

The advantages of growing them over exotic crops are that they require low production inputs and are resistant to drought, pest and diseases. These crops are produced and found growing in the country under various weather conditions with many found in the wild.

They are divided into three catego-ries; namely grains, vegetables and fruit. The most common indigenous food crops are Grains: grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), Pearl millet (Pen-nisetum glaucum), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and Bambara groundnuts (Vigna subterranean); Vegetables: Amaranth (Amaranthus), Delele (Cor-chorus tridens), Amadumbe (Coloca-sia esculenta) and Fruit: Marula (Scle-rocarya birrea) and Kei apple (Duvyalis caffra).

There is a lack of information on in-digenous crops based on their impor-tance and agronomic requirements. This is mostly due to low interest by researchers and because they are not considered as economically important on the global market. DAFF aligned its awareness programme with other government departments and various organisations to create awareness on the value of the crops.

The objectives of the awareness pro-gramme are, amongst others, to pro-mote production and consumption of these crops, create awareness on the nutritional and economic value, promote developed technologies through dem-onstration plots and conserve and pro-tect the South African biodiversity, etc.

Capacity building workshopsCapacity building workshops were

held in collaboration with the Depart-ment of Basic Education and the Agri-cultural Research Council to enlighten educators on nutritional value, seed-ling production and demonstrations on production of indigenous leafy vegeta-bles in school gardens. The workshops took place in four special schools, namely, IsiphoSethu, Zimeleni, Usizol-wethu and Mvelaphanda in Vosloorus and Katlehong, Daveyton and Tembi-sa, respectively.

Seed provisionThe Department of Basic Educa-

tion (DBE) identified 68 schools in Ekurhuleni North and South which were provided with seeds and produc-tion guidelines for production of indig-

enous leafy vegetables in school gar-dens. Amongst these seeds were the amaranth, Jew’s mallow, Black night-shade, cowpea, Bambara groundnuts and Chinese cabbage. The crops were planted to form part of the National School Nutrition Programme to supple-ment learners’ diets with iron, vitamin A, protein and beta carotene which are essential for mental development and growth.

Monitoring of school gardensThe Mvelaphanda Primary School

located at Tembisa is one of the suc-cessful schools in growing indigenous leafy vegetables. They grow Night-shade, pumpkin and Chinese cabbage and these crops grow very well and

Indigenous food crops in schools and rural communities

The crops were planted to form part of the National School Nutrition Programme to supplement learners’ diets with iron, vitamin A, protein and beta carotene which are essential for mental development and growth.

to p 9

No. 10 DAFFnews October 2017 9

SectorDepartmental

they are used in their feeding scheme. They also harvest Blackjack from the wild to feed learners. The school prin-cipal is actively involved in the school garden and the general workers have indigenous knowledge of growing them.

During the interview with the principal regarding his experience and inspira-tion on production of these vegetables he said, “I ate these vegetables dur-ing my upbringing, not from the formal market but harvested from the back-yards—the veggies are nutritional and have potential to reduce poverty. The knowledge I have inspired me to pro-mote them to the school learners. Most of them are coming from poor families; I want them to know the importance of these veggies to value them. I love gardening as it gives peace of mind, you feel like you give life and it also in-fluenced me to enroll master’s degree on improvement of immune system. I am currently encouraging learners to plant them at their homes.”

Participating provincesDAFF works in collaboration with the

Provincial Departments of Agriculture through CASP/ILIMA projects to pro-mote production and consumption. DAFF introduced Chinese cabbage to Botshabelo and Thaba-Nchu which now became more popular than ordi-nary spinach (Swiss chard).

The Chinese cabbage is sold locally at pension pay points, crèches and schools. Farmers produce cowpea and sell them locally on different prices at

R15 per kg and R25 per 250 ml. The Tholo Rapulana clinic harvested 40 kg of cowpea and the grain was dis-tributed amongst 30 TB patients. The Mothusi crèche mixes cowpea fresh pods with carrots and feed children.

Participatory research Amadumbe research project: 29 va-

rieties of amadumbe with higher yields, good taste and early maturity were identified and tested on the farmers’ fields in Umbumbulu. The 10 top per-formers were selected, multiplied and distributed to the participating farmers.

The objective was to enable farm-ers to access superior planting mate-rials for substantial yield increase and higher income for security and direct economic benefit for the community. The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported on the project in his speech during the NCOP Budget Speech this year that DAFF also sup-ported a project for improvement of amadumbe for production and income generation for smallholder farmers as part of a participatory breeding pro-gramme.

This project is aimed at broadening the South African food base by making improved high quality plant varieties available to the local farmers. Farmer participatory screening of a wide range of amadumbe cultivars is underway in KwaZulu-Natal to select cultivars suita-ble to the farmers’ growing conditions.

More awareness is needed to raise the level of understanding on the im-portance of these crops for local peo-ple and to identify the best practices for their production, utilisation and conser-vation.

More research should be conducted since there is very little information on nutrition and economic benefits of these crops.

By Directorate Plant Production

Lack of information on indigenous crops

Free State cowpea harvest.

Chinese cabbage harvested is sold locally at pension pay points, schools and orphanages.

Amadumbe

from p 8

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 10

Sector

The Deputy Minister for Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fish-eries, General Bheki Cele engaged with the people of Delmas during an Imbizo Outreach Programme.

Having dedicated 2017 as the year of the youth in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the Deputy Minister has been successfully accelerating youth recognition and forging more youth participation in the agriculture, for-estry and fisheries sectors, with the department recently hosting its annual #YAFF Excellence Awards to recog-nise outstanding work done by young people in these sectors.

The main purpose of the Delmas Imbizo was to steer the focus towards agriculture, forestry and fisheries ob-jectives which directly address the priorities of food security, job crea-tion and contribution to the country’s GDP, while increasing the participa-tion of stakeholders and communities by having meaningful interactions and

unpacking the Nine-Point Plan which aims to ignite economic growth and create jobs .

Before the Imbizo, the Deputy Minis-ter visited the Fortune 40 Itjhejo Coop-erative. The project is a vegetable and poultry production run by the youth (5 females and 1 male). The benefici-aries stay on the farm and receive a monthly stipend.

General Cele said that if they did not take the youth seriously by offering them employment as the nation, then they must forget about their future.

“It is sad because 9 million people are unemployed in the country and majority of them are youth. We should work hard as DAFF to help create em-ployment. Agriculture is the answer to employment. There must be form of an impact because we cannot come and leave without doing something,” he said.

He advised the youth working on the farm to remain in the province rather

Deputy Minister engages youth

By Samuel Kgatla

than seeking employment elsewhere.Moreover, he reiterated that trans-

formation was not an agricultural prob-lem, but a South African problem.

“DAFF, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Envi-ronmental Affairs (DARDLEA) and the municipality must work together to ad-vise farmers on what can be planted in this area because there’s enough land.

Government must work hard with women and young people. Delmas has fertile land and must be utilised well. We must deal with the issue of youth unemployment. The answer to youth unemployment is land,” con-cluded General Cele.

The Forestry Directorate within DAFF committed to provide 400 fruit trees (peaches) during the current financial year to expand youth agri-cultural activities at the Fortune 40 project. DAFF together with DARDLEA will provide technical expertise.

General Bheki Cele, Deputy Min-ister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries addresses youth and community members in Delmas.

No. 10 DAFFnews October 2017 11

Sector

Students in the agriculture and for-estry study fields gathered at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Uni-versity (NMMU), George campus for the 45th International Forestry Students Symposium (IFSS) in July. The two week-long symposium was an opportunity for South Africa to showcase its forestry culture and explore global perspectives on vari-ous aspects of sustainable forest management.

The symposium was held under the theme, “Practicing forestry in a diverse environment: Siyaphi? Where to from here”? Hosted under the auspices of the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA), these symposi-ums aim to further international forest education while developing forestry professionals that are cognisant of the fact that forest ecosystems thrive be-yond political boundaries.

The IFSS has been organised since 1973; each year in a different country. It has been hosted in countries such as Austria, The Philippines and Canada. Participants of the symposium are for-estry students from all over the world

who get the opportunity to experience forestry as defined by the particular host country. About 121 students from up to 30 countries across the globe participated in this year’s symposium consisting of workshops, seminars, dialogues and educational excursions.

The Deputy Chairperson of IFSS2017 Kopano Khwene who is also a Master’s student at the NMMU said that the students had come from many countries to share in the experi-ence of South African forestry and its diversity.

Speaking at the opening of the sym-posium on behalf of the Deputy Min-ister of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries General Bheki Cele, Ms Morongoa Leseke who was Acting Deputy Director-General for Forestry and Natural Resources Management at the time, highlighted the need to move away from produc-ing workers to producing drivers of the economy to ensure transformation.

She further said that young people had to take over the leadership roles in the sector on a global scale.

The Executive Mayor of George

Student’s symposium to explore global perception on forestry

By Jamela Nkanyane

Melvin Naik emphasised to the stu-dents that as leaders within the for-estry sphere, they were called upon not only to connect globally but to be responsive, flexible, adaptive, foster innovative thinking and actions in en-suring a thriving world.

The Chairperson of the IFSA Jesse Mahoney, who was in South Africa for the first time said that through the as-sociation students, learnt that humans could not exist in isolation but relied on complex and disorderly ecosystems.

He further added that they learnt that immense challenges existed in equality, evaluation of their forests and other natural ecosystems and equity, and that together they could make a difference by working towards sustain-ability for future generations.

The symposium is often organised by one tertiary institution in the host country. However, this year it was or-ganised through a collaborative effort of South African tertiary institutions which are the NMMU, Stellenbosch University, Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Institute, the University of Venda and the University of Pretoria.

October 2017 DAFFnews No. 10 12

Sector

agriculture,forestry & fisheriesDepartment:Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesREPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is one of the world’s most attractive business and leisure travel destinations because of its economic opportunities, scenic beauty, magnificent outdoors, sunny climate and cultural diversity. In the past four years, South Africa has recorded over 9 million international visitors per annum and the number is predicted to reach 13,5 million by the year 2015.

As people and commodities move around the world, pests that threaten the life and health of plants and animals travel with them. The increas-ing volume of international tourism and trade raises the risk of introducing alien invasive species as well as foreign pests associated with plants, plant products, animals, animal products and other regulated goods from one country to another. Once a pest has entered South Africa, climate change may influence its establishment and spread, as well as the damage it causes.

When travelling to South Africa, make sure you do not bring in prohibited agricultural products. These products may harbour pests that occur in other countries and their introduction may endanger South Africa’s competitiveness in trade and agricultural productivity. The introduction, establishment and spread of these pests undermine agricultural productivity and trade because of the direct damage to plant and animal re-sources, the high costs involved in pest eradication and post-harvest programmes, technical difficulties encountered in eradicating these pests and loss of markets.

Animals and animal products such as meat and dairy products, plants and plant products, honey and honey products as well as other regu-lated goods, are all potentially high-risk materials. These materials may only be imported into South Africa by means of an import permit, unless exempted, and must be declared with Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) inspectors for inspection at ports of entry be-fore entering South Africa.

In the interest of protecting plant health, animal health, human health and the country’s territory against exotic pests, South Africa has put legislative measures in place to control the importation of agricultural products into the country and invested in raising biosecurity awareness to the international travellers and traders. Travellers and commercial importers are therefore advised that, inspectors from DAFF conduct lug-gage and consignment inspections at the ports of entry by means of visual and sniffer dogs to ensure compliance with the import permit require-ments.

Prohibited products will either be confiscated, destroyed or returned to the country of export and you may face a fine of up to R20 000,00 or imprisonment.

Remember to declare agricultural products with the DAFF inspectors at the port of entry!

Don’t bag a bug!

Are you travelling to South Africa?“Please help safeguard South African agriculture, forestry and fisheries”

For further information, please visit us at www.daff.gov.za » Import/Exports or contact: Directorate: Inspection Services Tel: +27 12 309 8701/8735, e-mail: Info.sps@daff.gov.za or nppoza@daff.gov.za