Engela Duvenage
S
outh Africa’s Agricultural
Business Chamber (Agbiz)
has honoured Prof Mohammad Karaan of Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of
AgriSciences for his exceptional service to the South African agribusiness sector. He received the Agbiz
Honorary Award at the business
chamber’s biannual congress held
in Somerset West last week.
Prof Karaan’s leadership role in the
South African agricultural sector
was also recently acknowledged
through an honorary award from
Agri SA in November 2015.
He was recently reappointed to
serve a second five-year term as a
member of the National Planning
Commission (NPC). During his first
term from 2010 to 2015, he was
instrumental in writing the chapter
in the National Development Plan –
Vision 2030 on how to shape an
integrated and inclusive rural economy.
“This acclaimed framework has received wide support as a blueprint
for South Africa’s agricultural future,” says Agbiz, a voluntary association of agribusinesses operating
in southern Africa.
Prof Karaan is a graduate of Stellenbosch University. He obtained a BSc
(Agric) degree in 1990, an MSc
(Agric) in 1994, and a PhD (Agric) in
2006. He started his career as an
economist at the Development
Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA),
before returning to Stellenbosch to
join the Rural Foundation as its
Head of Research.
In 1996 he joined Stellenbosch University to lecture agricultural economics. Prof Karaan became Dean
of the Faculty of AgriSciences at
Stellenbosch University in 2008,
and was reappointed in 2013 for a
second term. During 2014/5, he
was an acting Vice-Rector at the
institution.
Prof Karaan served as Chairperson
of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) from 2005 to
2007, and was also President of the
Agricultural Economics Association
of South Africa from 2008 to 2009.
Prof Karaan has also been involved
in the agribusiness sector as director of numerous leading entities.
Agbiz chairperson Schalk
Pienaar (right) presented the
Agbiz Honorary Award to Prof
Mohammad Karaan of the
Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University. Photo:
Gavin Withers