DARD MEC engaged International Agricultural graduates

Agriculture /04 June 2023,16:45pm/ Staff Writer

Free State Agriculture MEC Saki Mokoena: image supplied

By Anele Ndlovu: The Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Saki Mokoena engaged with the unemployed international alumni as part of the Youth Month launch at Glen College on Thursday.

He said this year’s Youth Month is being celebrated under the theme “Accelerating collaborations and opportunities to improve the lives of the youth”.

The engagement followed the meeting that took place between unemployed graduates and the Free State Premier recently.

As part of the feedback from that meeting, Mokoena gathered all those who studied Agriculture to give a way forward on behalf of the sector.

From the Human Resources Management, Juliet Mosholi elaborated on the opportunities such as programs, internships and learnerships within the department.

The Director for Veterinary Services, Dr. Kristan Mojapelo addressed the issue of Vets graduates from Russia and mentioned that there will be a one year bridging course for those student who studied Veterinary Medicine from 1 July 2023 until June 2024, in order to assist them for the exam to be written in September 2024 prepared by the SA Veterinary Council.

In his address, Head of Department, Dr Takisi Masiteng, said the objective of these initiatives is to empower graduates to utilise and practice their skills in any Agri business or start businesses in order to contribute to job creation.

MEC concluded by saying South Africa is not a rich country but just a mere developing country, thus young people need to be capacitated with education and scarce skills to retain value and jobs in the province.

“We can’t be a country that consumes without producing, we need successful commercialised farmers who are exporting value added products,” said Mokoena.