Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is emerging as one of President Cyril Ramaphosa's key ministers after she helped engineer a breakthrough meeting between the presidency and 60 chief executives of some of South Africa's major corporations at the Union Buildings on Friday.  Presentations were made by Dlamini-Zuma, the minister in the presidency responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation, her director general Mpumi Mpofu, Agricultural Business Chamber chief executive John Purchase on behalf of the agriculture sector, and Toyota SA chief executive Andrew Kirby on behalf of the automotive industry. Click here to read the article published in City Press following last week's meeting.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new 10-person land-reform advisory panel last Friday. This panel is to lend advice and support to the inter-ministerial committee on land reform. The skills the president has garnered for this panel include people from academia, those with agricultural experience, those with social entrepreneurship experience and general activism in the agriculture sector. Nompu Siziba of SAfm interviewed Agbiz CEO Dr John Puchase about  the new panel and the challenges that remain in the land-reform process. Click here for the radio interview as well as a transcript of the conversation.

Agbiz head of Agribusiness Research Wandile Sihlobo was included in President Ramaphosa's 10-person advisory panel on land reform.   The panel that will support the inter-ministerial committee on land reform is chaired by Deputy President David Mabuza.  Ramaphosa said the 10 members of the panel are "eminently qualified by virtue of academic background, professional experience, social entrepreneurship or activism related to the agricultural economy and land policy". Click here for a Fin24 article announcing the members of the panel.

Agiz CEO Dr John Purchase delivered the opening address to the 15th International Cereal Rust and Powdery Mildew Conference (ICRPMC) in Skukuza on Monday, 24 September 2018. In a 2017 FAO Report, this UN body warned that the different wheat rusts, as they mutate, are making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, perhaps the Americas and Australasia too, and it is common knowledge how potentially devastating these diseases can be to untreated and susceptible crops. The intensification of agriculture, the globalisation of agricultural trade and global warming/climate change are all contributing significantly to the more rapid spread of plant diseases specifically. It is especially the introduction of rust pathogens, and their race mutations, that have and continue to increasingly pose a major threat to competitive production. Dr Purchase also raised four major concerns from industry that the 15th ICRPMC needed to address. Please click here to peruse.

In August the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) published the draft National Policy on Comprehensive Producer Development Support for public comments. The policy is designed to bring together producer support from both government and private sector in a coordinated manner. A first look at the policy shows positive signs, but the methodology may need a bit of work.  Click here for Agbiz head of Legal IntelligenceTheo Boshoff's article. 

Development is just as important for the agricultural sector as for any other industry sector in South Africa. In an interview on the kykNET programme, Grootplaas, Agbiz head of Legal Intelligence Theo Boshoff spoke about a policy document recently published by the Minister of Higher Education and Training for public consultation. The policy document contains suggestions that can change the entire SETA landscape. Click here to view the interview with Theo Boshoff.

Agbiz Grain will host a Road to Rail Workshop focused on the grain industry value chain on 8 October 2018. All grain value chain role players are invited to participate in this workshop. This event falls squarely within the directive given by the Jobs Summit where Agbiz is playing a major role. For more information, see Upcoming Events in this newsletter.