Highlights From The Agricultural Conference Held Recently In Durban

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Agricultural Extension Week South Africa 2017

Last week I attended this conference which was held in Durban.

These were just some of the key insights from the speakers:

‘Knowledge should find its way back to the users.’

‘Markets for Agricultural Products are not an easy field.’

‘You need to be innovative.’

‘This is not as easy as selling Coca-Cola or Cellphones.’

We also heard some scary forecasts for the future:

‘Global food production must increase by 70%.’

‘Africa will be hardest hit by climate change.’

‘Climate change is real.’

There was also a call from women farmers to be assisted.

There was also much wise knowledge shared:

‘Power lies in information sharing.’

In some areas of Africa there are still challenges with internet connectivity.

Mr Oladele also gave us insight into how agro-weather info is shared in remote areas of Kenya and Ethiopia.

‘In some areas of Africa, farmers are reached via sms or newsletter, some farmers have to have their children read this info to them because the farmers can’t read or write’ – Mr Oladele.

The conference also had a wonderful exhibition section and there I found an interesting project, ‘Access Agriculture’  that allows farmers to upload their own videos so that they can share their information with others.

For more info visit www.agtube.org

You can also email info@accessagriculture.org

To find out more insight about the conference check out the hashtag on social media 

#AgricExtWeek2017

For more info visit @DAFF_Ministry on Twitter

This edition by Fred Felton | Twitter @fredfelton