The next Food Dialogue session on 1 December 2021 at Stellenbosch University will place the spotlight on the contribution of South Africa's commercial agriculture sector to ensure food security in Southern Africa. The role of subsistence farmers and small-scale farmers to fill the gaps in the informal sector where the bigger players cannot reach will also be discussed.
The discussion will be led by Prof Ferdi Meyer, managing director for the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), and a specialist in agricultural market, trade and policy analyses, value chain analytics, strategic fore sighting and scenario planning.
The Food Dialogue sessions are presented by the Southern Africa Food Lab, an initiative of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University. It regularly brings together diverse, influential stakeholders in Southern Africa food systems to respond to systemic issues in creative ways and to inspire change in how we think and act on complex social challenges.
Prof Meyer holds a PhD from the University of Missouri in the USA and was a founding member of BFAP in 2004. He was an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria for two decades, and now serves as an extraordinary professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
BFAP is internationally recognised as an independent think tank on the African continent that uses research to inform decision making by stakeholders (both in the private and public sectors) in the agro-food, fibre and beverage sectors. Among the strategic national and international projects that BFAP has been involved in are South Africa's National Development Plan (NDP) and the Agricultural and Agro-processing Master Plan for South Africa, and end-to-end value chain projects in a number of various Eastern and Southern African countries. It works together with various universities in South Africa, including Stellenbosch University, and supports postgraduate training.
As part of the Food Dialogue sessions, Prof Meyer will also be speaking to postgraduate students of the Faculty of AgriSciences while on campus.
For more information, contact Anneke Müller at annekem@sun.ac.za.
