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Agri SA would like to congratulate Omri van Zyl, Agri SA’s Executive Director, for his election on Tuesday as Facilitator for the Global Cooperatives Working Group for the World Farmers Organisation (WFO). The WFO brings together national farmers’ organisations and agricultural cooperatives from all over the world and is meeting in Luxemburg this year.

“The Working Group is an opportunity for Agri SA to link with global players while showcasing South Africa’s own world class agribusinesses,” said Omri van Zyl. “The Agri SA Corporate Chamber have in a short time become the ideal forum for companies in the South African agricultural value chain to participate and network on a strategic level. As Facilitator of the Global Cooperatives Working Group, we will be able to add further value to our discussions.”

Agri SA holds the South African seat at the WFO and was a founding member of the organisation in 2011. The WFO is made up of organisations from both developed and developing economies. The mission is to create the conditions for the adoption of policies and programs that can improve the economic environment and livelihood of farmers and rural communities.

“The difference between the developed countries and the developing countries is staggering, and the brief was to see how we can build a bridge between the two worlds. From a South African perspective, we are pretty much in the developed world space with our own 20 cooperatives, following the same international trends as some of the other developed countries. We also intend to understand some of the other developmental best practices to gear some of our developmental activities accordingly.”
 
The Working Group will include the USA, Norway, Korea and Netherlands among others. The 2020 session will be in the USA where a policy paper encapsulating the WFO policy on Cooperatives will be launched.

Issued by Agri SA