On Tuesday, 11 March 2024, the Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, and the Head of Department, Dr Mogale Sebopetsa, welcomed 120 unemployed agricultural graduates as interns to the Department’s Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP). During the two-year internship graduates will be placed with farmers and sector stakeholders who will act as mentors and host employers.
The agricultural graduate intern programme will offer youth experience through work-integrated learning and support the establishment of youth-owned or managed enterprises, youth entrepreneurs, and other activities. This will encourage the active participation of youth in the agricultural sector to bridge the gap of ageing producers and reduce unemployment and poverty.
Minister Meyer said, “This programme places unemployed graduates with agriculture-related qualifications on farms and at enterprises within the agricultural value chain to acquire relevant on-the-job entrepreneurial and business skills to enable them to establish and manage their own enterprises.”
Minister Meyer and Dr Mogale urged the graduate interns to embrace the values of the Western Cape Government – care, competence, accountability, integrity, innovation, and responsiveness.
Dr Sebopetsa commented, “You have joined an important sector of our economy. The Western Cape agriculture sector is responsible for 55% of South Africa‘s primary agricultural exports. It is also the country’s most important contributor to food security. As the next cohort of producers and entrepreneurs in the sector, we hope to expose you to the values and the practices that you need to be successful.”
Minister Meyer highlighted that the agricultural graduate intern programme allowed participants to unlock their potential within a thriving sector of the economy.
“Unleash your capability within this flourishing sector. Agriculture and agri-processing contribute 11% to the GDP of the Western Cape. By the end of 2022, statistics highlighted that the agriculture sector employed 227 893 workers in the Western Cape, and the agri-processing sector employed 236 002 workers.
Combined, the sector contributed 426,417 jobs in the Western Cape. This means that the agriculture sector employed 17% of the total number of people employed in the Western Cape.”
The key placement components of the agricultural graduate intern programme are:
- Livestock rearing and poultry production;
- Horticulture/crop production;
- Aquaculture production;
- Viticulture;
- Agro-processing;
- Agricultural Extension; and
- Agricultural Economics
Minister Meyer said: “Education, Training and Research, and Farmer Support are two of my ministerial priorities. These are underpinned by the Western Cape Government’s Growth for Jobs Strategy. Agriculture is a key sector of the Jobs for Growth Strategy.”
“Ultimately, we want to improve the employability of agricultural graduates through on-the-job experience at major agricultural host farms and entrepreneurial entities while at the same time, offering our producers additional support. Importantly, this programme is working to reduce unemployment and equipping our youth to become employers themselves,” concluded the Minister.
Serendipity
I saw a quote by Nelson Mandela on MyZA – can you tell me what date did he die?
manbreaker
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?