RE: MEC Tina Joemat-Pettersson set to address Southern Africa’s
agricultural unions
Northern Cape’s MEC for Agriculture and Land
Reform Tina Joemat-Pettersson will tomorrow at 12h00 pm address the annual
general meeting of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions
(SACAU) on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms. Thoko
Didiza, in Pretoria. SACAU represents a string of commercial and emerging
farmer organizations within the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
on matters that includes; marketing and trade, regional development of the
sub-continent, land settlement, labour, research, extension and training.
The MEC is expected to flag the role the
unions should play in the implementation of NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa
Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), support of the establishment and
strengthening of centres of excellence for the development of African
agriculture and creating avenues for Pan-African collaboration among
international, regional, and national research and extension programmes. This
collaboration resulted in Nigeria replacing Brazil as the topmost producer of
cassava and stands as a hallmark of Africa’s agricultural developmental vestige.
Representatives from the SADC, International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA) will also address this all-important meeting. The AGM
ends on Friday, 17 March 2006. END
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land
Reform
Enquiries: Thabo Mothibi 083 255 8840