Webinar: The status of agricultural biologicals in Southern Africa

Almost three years ago we arranged a webinar “Healthier plants with the help of Biologicals?” which was very well attended and followed up by a workshop in Pretoria, South Africa in January 2022. We have then continued looking into the use of biologicals in sub-Saharan Africa with support from AgriFoSe2030 and SIANI.

As part of the South Africa Sweden University Forum (SASUF) we now invite you to join the SASUF Satellite Event: “The status of agricultural biologicals in Southern Africa” remotely Tuesday March 28th at 09:00 – 12:00 CEST/SAST. This is a chance to get a picture of the knowledge and use of biologicals in Southern Africa, and we will report results from our surveys and analysis in the region around biologicals as part of the AgriFoSe2030 project.

More information and sign up here (mandatory to receive a Zoom link to the event)

Agenda Tuesday 28 of March 2023

9:00  Welcoming (Prof Bongani Ndimba - Senior Manager Research: ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij & Dr Sonja Venter (Senior Manager Research: ARC-Vegetables, Industrial and Medicinal Plants)

9:10  What are biologicals and what is the global status? (Prof Erik Alexandersson / Dr Lerato Matsaunyane)

9:25  Plant biologicals: Identifying hurdles of use of a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) analysis of stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa (Dr Mesia Ilomo / Prof Quenton Kritzinger)

9:45  Question and Answer session

10:00  Coffee break

10:30  Invited speaker: Developing beneficial soil microbes as inoculants to enhance climate smart agriculture (Dr Ahmed Hassen, ARC)

10:45  Invited speaker: Biocult (Trichoderma and Endomycorrhizae) for root health (Dr Deidre Odendaal, AECI) 

11:00  Question and Answer session and open discussion

11:45  Wrap-up and way forward 

Main target group:
Students, farmers, researchers, policymakers and private stakeholders