SA stalwart remains world agri body president

While representatives are allowed to serve on the board of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) for only four years, Dr Theo de Jager’s presidency has recently been extended by a year, increasing his time of service to five years.

He ascribed the unique turn of events to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated prevention measures, which had led to most meetings on the WFO agenda going online. “Participation in online meetings has been obstructed by poor Internet access and connectivity problems in some countries, in combination with huge time differences between countries. This, in turn, has made it difficult to choose a new leader.”

De Jager foresaw that it would probably take another 20 to 30 years before another South African was elected as president.

While a digital meeting was held this year, the WFO was scheduled to have its annual meeting in Hungary in June 2022.

“Hungary has become a strong South African trade partner, so the event presents a good opportunity to strengthen relationships and identify new ways to collaborate,” De Jager said.

The WFO represented 73 countries and was in the process of reviewing membership fees for African countries to render it more affordable.

“While farmers are represented by their separate governments during international dealings, the WFO presents a valuable alternative platform that specifically focuses on the unique needs and challenges of farmers in different parts of the world,” De Jager said.

Since its inception 10 years ago, the WFO had been advocating tirelessly to influence the most relevant processes at the highest levels of engagement; this related to everything from sustainable development to climate change, antimicrobial resistance, disaster management, family farming and the United Nations Food Summit.

“Internationally, for instance, there is a strong movement for animal-based proteins to be replaced by plant-based proteins, and for the ban of various fertilisers and chemicals.

“Our job is to address ill-informed notions, policies and unfair trade measures that may sprout from these,” De Jager said. He added that the organisation recognised there were no silver-bullet or blanket solutions. What worked in Canada or the US, for example, might not be effective in Africa or different regions of Africa.

While De Jager is South African, he is actually representing Zimbabwean farmers via the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe. South Africa is represented via the National African Farmers’ Union of South Africa. – Glenneis Kriel

DR THEO DE JAGER