Western Cape to honour residents in agriculture

The Western Cape is set to honour the men and women who are working hard to grow the province’s agriculture sector.

Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, announced that the Western Cape Prestige Agri Awards would be celebrated on Saturday, 4 November at Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl.

The provincial awards ceremony follows a series of province-wide regional competitions.

Last year’s overall winner, Anton Alexander, an employee at Ouwerf Farm who works in Human Resources, travelled to the Netherlands and Germany as part of his prize. He attended agriculture conferences and networked with agri enterprises.

Alexious Shoko, who won the competition in 2015, travelled to India as part of his prize. During this trip, Shoko, from Piket Bo-berg, attended conferences where topics such as improving levels of agricultural production were discussed. He also conducted site visits to farms in India.

Another past winner, Jerome Thomas, travelled to France for cutting-edge agri-business training in 2015.

As part of the trip, Thomas completed courses in project management and financial analysis. Today, he is developing his own agri business.

Minister Winde said the competition aimed to celebrate the work of employees in the sector, and to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

“I believe the successes of people like Anton, Alexious and Jerome are universally inspiring. The lessons we can learn from them are not only limited to agriculture. We can see that with the right support, and access to industry networks, employees in this sector can build thriving careers.

“Through the awards, we want to showcase and honour the people who are at the frontline of driving growth in agri processing and agriculture. It is also my hope that this platform connects them to the resources they need to take their careers to even greater heights.”

All winners receive cash prizes and training courses. The overall winner receives a study tour as well as a cash prize.

Please see below the complete list of regional winners:

 Winners will also be announced in the following categories:

• General Worker
• Tractor Driver
• Administrative Personnel
• Animal Production
• Technical Operator
• Irrigation Specialist
• Social Development
• Agri-processing
• Foreman
• Junior Management
• Middle Management

Since 2002, 9369 agricultural employees have entered the competition.