New era for the fruit industry
2009-10-15
THE operational industry services and functions of the Deciduous Fruit Producers’ Trust (DFPT), which provide for a wide range of national industry organisations from its office in Paarl, have been transferred to a new service entity, Hortgro Services, effective as from 1 October. Hortgro Services will in future be responsible for administrative services and financial administration, as well as some functional services such as transformation and training, information, communication and social programmes.
All personnel had been transferred to Hortgro Services and will continue to provide services and assume responsibility for all the current industry entities within its scope. According to Anton Rabe, Executive Director of Hortgro Services, the Deciduous Fruit Producers’ Trust (DFPT) has in recent years, apart from services to the deciduous fruit industry, also provided services for a range of associated industry structures, such as Dried Fruit Technical Services (DFTS), SA Olives, Protea Producers SA (PPSA) and SA Cherries. Other industry groupings have already indicated that they will also be interested in a more generic service structure for certain functions to consolidate and facilitate their own tasks. The new identity creates the possibility to service a wider range of role players on a more inclusive basis. Rabe also indicated that this operational consolidation in Hortgro Services will soon be carried further with a more consolidated approach on a strategic industry level with the establishment of a Hortgrosa identity and profile. Hortgrosa will be established as a section 21 service company to act as a national communication platform for its members to address collective issues over the industry value chain. The idea is that various primary horticultural industry associations will affiliate with Hortgrosa in order to jointly deal with shared strategic issues in a more effective manner. This will have no impact on the autonomy or responsibilities of industry association such as SAAPPA, SASPA, DFTS and the Canning Fruit Producers’ Association (CFPA), whilst Hortgro Services will operate as an associated operational service entity under the umbrella of Hortgrosa. Other functional industry service structures will also be renamed or linked to Hortgrosa to reflect the new group identity more clearly within the consolidated structure, Rabe said.
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