South Africa's Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) has honoured Prof Mohammad Karaan of Stellenbosch University's Faculty of AgriSciences for his exceptional service to the South African agribusiness sector. He received the Agbiz Honorary Award at the business chamber's biannual congress held in Somerset West last week.
Prof Karaan's leadership role in the South African agricultural sector was also recently acknowledged through an honorary award from Agri SA in November 2015.
He was recently reappointed to serve a second five-year term as a member of the National Planning Commission (NPC). During his first term from 2010 to 2015, he was instrumental in writing the chapter in the National Development Plan – Vision 2030 on how to shape an integrated and inclusive rural economy.
"This acclaimed framework has received wide support as a blueprint for South Africa's agricultural future," says Agbiz, a voluntary association of agribusinesses operating in southern Africa.
Prof Karaan is a graduate of Stellenbosch University. He obtained a BSc (Agric) degree in 1990, an MSc (Agric) in 1994, and a PhD (Agric) in 2006. He started his career as an economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), before returning to Stellenbosch to join the Rural Foundation as its Head of Research.
In 1996 he joined Stellenbosch University to lecture agricultural economics. Prof Karaan became Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University in 2008, and was reappointed in 2013 for a second term. During 2014/5, he was an acting Vice-Rector at the institution.
Prof Karaan served as Chairperson of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) from 2005 to 2007, and was also President of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa from 2008 to 2009. Prof Karaan has also been involved in the agribusiness sector as director of numerous leading entities.
Photo caption:
Agbiz chairperson Schalk Pienaar (right) presented the Agbiz Honorary Award to Prof Mohammad Karaan of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University. Photo: Gavin Withers
