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News and Highlights 2005/2006
• All Africa Dairy Expo, 2005
The 2005 All Africa Dairy Expo was held at Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria from 12-15 September with the Theme: “Challenging
the Future
• AMT / ABSA / LANDBOUWEEKBLAD AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK CONFERENCE 2005
The Conference was held on the 3 & 4 August 2005, at CSIR Conference Centre - Pretoria, South Africa. The theme was The Future of Agriculture in South Africa and the World.
• DFID 2005
The 2005 workshop was held from the 12-15 September 2005 at Everglades Hotel, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The theme thereof was Improving The Well-Being Of Resource-Poor Communities – The Role Of Small Livestock.
The proceedings are not yet available.
• NWGA Regional
The Region 20 Woolgrowers Association’s10th Congress. It was held from the 24 – 25 August 2005 at Nqadu Great Place, Willowvale in The Eastern Cape.
• 1st Eastern and Southern Africa School Milk Conference
It was held in Uganda from 27-30 September 2005. The conference was a collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries & Fisheries, (MAAIF) Uganda, with Dairy Development Authority
(DDA) and the United Nations food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The aim of the conference was to promote introduction of milk in schools within the region. Presented were 12 Country reports from within the region (Ethiopia; Israel; Kenya; Madagascar; Malawi; Nepal; Philippines; South Africa; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda and Zambia)
The intention was to allow maximum discussion by participants in order to clearly understand what is being done elsewhere and pick lessons for adapting/ adoption on return to their respective countries. Selected resource persons delivered short discussion papers on the following:-
- Effect of school milk program on the national market (United Kingdom and China).
- Impact of school milk on nutrition / performance of school children (United Kingdom; China and Australia).
- Ways of packaging and presenting milk in schools (Sweden).
- Sustainability of school milk programs (Australia and China).
• Range and Natural Resource Workshop
The Range and Natural resource management workshop was held from the 22 & 23 November 2005 at Bishopstowe Polocrosse Hall, Pietermaritzburg. This workshop was organised by Craig Morris of ARC-RFI and it is a DoA- AAPS’s initiative to establish a national focus towards sustainable management of Veld and Natural Resource and, ultimately sustainable animal (livestock and wildlife) production in South Africa.
Representatives from the nine PDoA, GSSA, ARC, institutions of higher learning (universities and colleges), and other organization that are involved in the utilization of the above-mentioned resources (i.e. land-users) such wildlife organizations and farmers were invited to attend the workshop.
The AAPS: Senior Manager, Dr M. Hlatshwayo, delivered a presentation on DoA’s Livestock Development Strategy (LDS), which gave a platform to the presentation on the Range & Forage Policy of South Africa by AAPS
The main outcome of the workshop was the establishment of the National Range and Forage Working Group
(NRFWG), one of DoA’s deliverables as far as Range and Forage management is concerned.
• Aquaculture Sector Working Group Policy Workshop.
ASWG workshop was held at Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria, on the 15th November 2005. The aim of the workshop was to promote interdepartmental cooperation and discuss the status of the national aquaculture policy.
• DoA/WRC Provincial aquaculture programme. The programme is aimed at improving rural food security and livelihoods alternatives
• Provincial Aquaculture Programmes Workshop
The workshop addressed the project: Participatory Development of Provincial Aquaculture Programmes for Improved Rural Food Security and Livelihoods Alternatives. Programme inception workshop was launched at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape on the 28th November 2005. The aim of the workshop was to identify and discuss challenges and actions to be considered when rolling out the aquaculture programme. The programme is funded by the Department of Agriculture and Water Research Commission and is to be implemented by the Rhodes University for the next five years in revitalizing state aquaculture hatcheries.
• Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa (AASA)
The 7th Biannual conference of the AASA was held at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape on the 12th to 16th September 2005. The build up to th conference was characterized by an active debate on matters related to aquaculture policy, strategy and strucute. The interest and concerns expressed by members and conference participants necessitated the association to arrange a dedicated session during which these matters affecting the SA aquaculture sector were discussed.
• THE 13th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON GENES, GENE FAMILIES AND ISOZYMES, AND 2005' FORUM ON FISHERY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The 13th ICGGFI congress and Forum were held in Shanghai, China from 17 to 21 September 2005 and all scientists in the relevant field were invited for participation. They dealt with issues related to aquaculture development in the fields of molecular biology and isozymes. As aquaculture is a growing agricultural activity with potential but less access to technology and information, very informative relevant sessions were attended and contributed a lot of information to South Africa.
• WORKSHOP ON AQUACULTURE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT IN LIMPOPO
On the 12th and 13th January 2006, the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) arranged a workshop to develop a provincial aquaculture strategy in line with the WRC/DoA proposed programme: Participatory development of provincial aquaculture programmes for improved rural food security and livelihoods alternatives.
This was done as the first step of the implementation plan of the Provincial Aquaculture programme on revitalization of state aquaculture centers which is one of the actions concluded to be done at the programme inception workshop at Rhodes University on the 28th November 2005. The workshop at RU recognised the importance of provincial workshops as this would drive the identification of the needs by specific provinces as well as the provinces priorities for aquaculture.
• WORKSHOP ON Limpopo Basin Project
A workshop of the Challenge Program on Water and Food of the World Fish Center on research priorities in the Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries - Limpopo Basin was held at the University of Limpopo on the 14th and 15th December 2005. The aim of the workshop was to share views on the challenges and opportunities that exist in the Limpopo basin for enhancing the contribution of Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries to water productivity.
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