At UMP the conference will held on September 15.

This will be followed by other seminars in Limpopo and KwaZuluNatal. The departments of small business development, and of agriculture, land reform and rural development, as well as the industry association, Food South Africa, will participate.

Fikile Majola, the deputy minister of DTIC, said the purpose of the conferences is to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth of South Africa by exposing them to opportunities that are available in the agroprocessing sector.

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Topics to be discussed include opportunities that young people can explore in the value chains of the agro-processing industry which consists of various subsectors such as poultry, dairy products, fruit and vegetable processing, grain mill products, sugar mills and refineries, bakery products, wine, fruit juices, animal feeds, and meat processing.

“As government, we would like to see the youth contributing positively in creating employment opportunities in the agropocessing value chain in particular. This will go a long way in growing the country’s economy and increasing the country’s export revenue. We are bringing together various agencies of government to share information on their products and services that young people can tap into in order to assist them to establish and grow their businesses,” said Majola.

“Agro-processing is a crucial subsector of manufacturing. As government, we have identified agriculture and agroprocessing as one of the crucial economic sectors to transform the economy through sustainable employment creation, business opportunities, investment attraction and growing export base,” he said.

Majola added that the country still struggles with low levels of entrepreneurship. He said young people who are armed with the appropriate information, skills and knowledge will contribute in changing the bleak picture painted by the alarming level of unemployment in the country.