Congratulation to Dr. Dirk Troskie for being awarded agriculturalist of the year by the Agricultural Writers SA. The award celebrates and recognises his distinct contribution to the South African agricultural sector.
Dr Dirk (Pic right, source Western Cape Government website), an Agricultural Economist and honorary member of AEASA reflects on his role at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.
“I am currently the Director: Business Planning and Strategy in the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) in South Africa, but is also often referred to as the ‘shifting spanner’ of the Department. In this capacity I am responsible to provide advice and information on strategic issues to the Department and the Sector. Matters of strategic relevance are researched, interventions proposed and the impact and outcome of interventions are evaluated. From a research perspective, I remain particularly interested in the interaction between values, culture, quality, geography and farming (i.e. Geographical Indicators – GI), developing agrarian economies in a globalising world, embracing the fourth industrial revolution in the context of local realities as well as responsive and responsible government. As a result of these efforts:
- The WCDoA is considered as the leading evaluating Departments in the country and on the African Continent.
- ‘Rooibos/ Red Bush’ became the first African product to be included in the GI Register of European Union.
- ‘Karoo Lamb / Karoo Lam’ is the first South African GI to be included in the South African GI Register.
At an international level I had the opportunity to serve as the Southern African representative on the Executive Committee of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) as well as being invited by the African Union to participate in the process to develop a Geographical Indication (GI) Strategy for Africa. I was also fortunate to be responsible to arrange a number of international conferences.
From a personal perspective this was for me a very great and unexpected honour. As I was approached by the Agricultural Writers Association to determine my willingness to be nominated, it was an honour that what I am doing is considered to be important by people outside the Department. And, as I often say, this award is something which the small boy in the 1960’s on a farm in the Eastern Cape would never have considered to be possible.”
