Stefan Conradie, the South African deciduous fruit industry’s product manager for stonefruit and topfruit, has joined the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.
Mr Conradie has been appointed as Chief Director Rural Development in a new venture introduced by Western Cape Agriculture Minister Gerrit van Rensburg, and has already resumed his new responsibilities.
His departure leaves a void at in the industry where, among other things, he was responsible for the new European and UK promotional campaigns for South African stonefruit and topfruit. The 2010 campaign was launched recently in London and is expected to continue until August.
Nigel Mudge, chairman of the Joint Marketing Forum for Apples and Pears, described Mr Conradie’s departure as a great loss to the industry.
Mr Conradie has also been a strong lobbyist for other fruit sectors to join the international promotional campaign, and has achieved some success by convincing grape growers and grapefruit growers to become involved.
A ministerial spokesman said that Mr Conradie’s new role will be to pursue initiatives that will lead to sustainable rural development in the Western Cape region. 'It is very much a new development in agriculture in the region and we believe Mr Conradie has enough business experience to lead this process.'
It has been reported that Mr Conradie will be replaced by Jacques du Preez, who has previously been involved with transformation in the deciduous fruit industry.
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