Growing local for healthier communities
[{“type”:”text”,”content”:”The first panel discussion included Innocent Sirovha (AgriSETA CEO), Omri van Zyl (Agri Enterprises), Cobus van Zyl (Agri North West vice-president) and Pieter Taljaard (Grain SA CEO), with Christo van der Rheede as facilitator.nnCobus van Zyl started off the panel discussion by referring to the Stockdale Paradox: *You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end u2013 which you can never afford to lose u2013 with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be*.nnu201cOur starting point should be the brutal reality we face,u201d he said. u201cAs farmers, we can only invest in our people once weu2019ve grown. Employment is a by-product of growth. It is our duty to speak to government about profits and growth.u201dnnTaljaard added by saying that profitability is incredibly important for the success of Grain SAu2019s development programmes. u201cWithout profitability there is no sustainability,u201d Taljaard said. u201cOur farmer development programme, or FDP, is about household food security and job creation. Skills development should be high on the agenda in order to build a strong knowledge base. The critical skills gap existing in South Africa, for instance with regard to agronomy, plant pathology, plant breeding and data science, is a growing concern. A proactive approach to skills development should be taken to ensure a sustainable pipeline of capacity.u201dnnSince 2018, Grain SA have awarded 92 bursaries in collaboration with DSI and other industry role-players, as well as internships and technician training.nnAccording to Sirovha, AgriSETA acts as matchmakers. u201cWe find out what the industry is looking for u2013 the type of skills required. We then approach colleges and training providers to relay this information. If we are not adequately providing these skills to the industry, we meet with these training institutions to discuss the quality of graduates entering the industry. We collaborate with captains of the industry to define exactly what is needed and AgriSETA (on behalf of government) work with training institutions to adapt and improve.u201dnnFacilitating the discussion on building communities, was Dr. Kathy Hurly, Agri SA SETCOM chair. The panel was made up by Grant Jacobs (CEO and co-founder of HelloChoice), Lennox Plaatjies (national public liaison officer of SA PALS), Sandy La Marque (Kwanalu CEO) and Andrea Campher (Agri SA Risk and Disaster manager).nnnHurly defined the goal of the panel discussion by saying that they will share the work that is being done in terms of uplifting and working with rural communities u2013 where action is taken, what kind of action is taken, and the lessons learned along the way.nnnLa Marque revisited the disasters that KZN faced over the past year, including riots and looting, foot and mouth disease, and massive flood damage. u201cWe at Kwanalu had to ask ourselves: how do we strengthen rural safety and security, build communities and grow local through job creation, mindset change, entrepreneurship, mentoring and clustering? Because that was the only solution we could bring to the table.u201d”,”position”:0,”id”:”TR0Bg5eJGVLHjZGp”}]