NAFU President now SACAU vice

The National African Farmers’ Union of South Africa’s (NAFU-SA), president, Motsepe Matatla, has been elected as co-vice president of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) at its annual general meeting held in Durban in April this year.

Matatla will share the vice-presidency with Abiel Banda of the Farmers’ Union of Malawi. Douglas Taylor-Freeme of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe was elected as president.
Taylor-Freeme was formerly SACAU’s vice-president to Ajaykumar Vashee, who left the office after six consecutive terms. Vashee, who is president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), was unanimously bestowed the honourary presidency of SACAU.
The other elected board members are Raimar Von Hase (Namibian Farmers’ Union) and Effatah Jele (Zambia National Farmers’ Union). Jele says the reason why they selected Taylor-Freeme is for the union to gain more experience from the Zimbabwean farmers, who are still regarded as the best in the region.
SACAU chief executive officer, Ishmael Sunga, says the new board has balanced representation from both small- and large-scale farming sectors.
Sunga says the Lesotho National Farmers’ Union (LENAFU) was admitted as a new member of SACAU, bringing total membership to 14 members in 10 countries in southern Africa. This includes nine members representing predominantly small-scale farmers, four members representing predominantly large-scale farmers, and one member representing both.
“The annual general meeting saw the board adopting resolutions on a number of issues, including climate change, food aid and aid for trade as they relate to agriculture in southern Africa,” Sunga says.
Land and gender issues within the agricultural sector were among the matters identified as focus areas for the coming years, he says.
More than 60 participants, which included members of SACAU, regional economic communities (RECs), civil society and the donor community in southern Africa, attended the SACAU Annual Policy Conference, which preceded the SACAU annual general meeting on 15 and 16 April.
Presenters at the conference included scientists, trade lawyers and South African Development Community (SADC) officials. The presentation and discussions focused on climate change and agriculture in the region, agricultural trends, SADC regional agricultural policy, aid for trade and food aid and agriculture in the region. It was funded by the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs.
SACAU was established in 1992. Its secretariat is based in South Africa and membership is open to national farmers’ unions and regional commodity associations in southern Africa. SACAU is involved in agricultural development in the region through strengthening the capacities of farmers’ organisations, by providing a collective voice for farmers on regional and international matters, and by providing agricultural-related information to its members and other stakeholders.
“We have also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Small-scale Farmers’ Union (UNAC) of Mozambique and have started working with the Swaziland National Agricultural Union (SNAU),” Sunga says.