Pretoria - Government wants to deepen the value chain in the agro-processing sector as it is one of the important sectors of trade.
Acting head of Investment Promotions and Interdepartmental Clearing House at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Yunus Hoosen, said government is providing a platform for agro-processing projects.
“The South African government is providing a platform for agro-processing projects by unlocking one million hectares of land to the sector where small companies need to fit in and form joint ventures. A number of big companies like Unilever are looking for smaller companies to supply them with raw material and small businesses needed to take advantage of this,” said Hoosen.
Hoosen was speaking at an investment seminar that forms part of the inward investment mission undertaken by Italian companies which are in the agro-processing sector.
This as the dti is hosting a business delegation from Italy to participate in the inward investment mission that started on Sunday.
The South African government was also trying to deepen supply chains for a lot of multinational companies expanding in South Africa. Hoosen told the Italian investors that there were a number of institutions in South Africa that could provide them with support and funding to set up in the country.
One of the Italian business delegates Professor Allesandro Arioli said he came to South Africa because he wanted to get an understanding in terms of the dynamics of sustainable development within the country.
He said he was glad to discover that South Africa was giving a lot of attention to the agro-processing sector and that there was a huge potential for transfer of technologies especially to black farmers in the country.
“We are interested in the transfer of the know-how through providing training and establishing joint ventures with companies in this country. We realise that there are perfect compatibilities and synergies between Italian and black businesses,” he added.
Arioli, who specialises in the transfer of skills, drones technologies for sustainable farming and supply of machinery for farming, said he was based in Namibia and had been able to establish that some of the technology he wants to transfer, would be suitable for climate conditions in South Africa.
The mission continues until Wednesday with delegates participating in business-to-business meetings and visiting sites in the Free State and Mpumalanga provinces. – SAnews.gov.za
