The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Senzeni Zokwana invites the media to the Drought Resistant Maize Varieties Launch.
This innovative technology is managed by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), which is a public entity of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).
Funders of the project are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Howard G Buffett Foundation and USAID.
Minister Zokwana, supported by General Bheki Cele, will launch the groundbreaking drought resistant maize varieties. The varieties were developed by the WEMA (Water Efficient Maize for Africa), an international public-private partnership that is aimed at developing and deploying drought tolerant maize hybrids royalty-free to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Details of the launch are as follows:
Date: Monday, 1 December 2014
Venue: Loskop Research Farm, Groblersdal
Time: 10h00 – 13h30
Journalists will be transported from the ARC offices in Pretoria to Groblersdal.
The departure time is 06h30.
Members of the media are invited to the launch and are requested to confirm attendance by forwarding their names to: JamesM@arc.agric.za or NokuthulaLE@daff.gov.za.
For further information contact:
Makenosi Maroo
Tel: 012 319 6787
Cell: 072 475 2956
E-mail: MakenosiM@daff.gov.za
