The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) visits the DLG International Crop Production Center

International networking is playing an increasingly important role in global agriculture. On July 14, 2022, DLG had the opportunity to further expand its international network. As part of a bilateral cooperation project of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Tinashe Chavhunduka and Dr. Misheck Musoder of SACAU, the umbrella organization of 19 national farmers' associations in southern Africa, visited various agricultural institutions in Germany with the support of the Andreas Hermes Academy. This included a visit to the DLG International Plant Production Center (IPZ) in Bernburg.

The aim of the visit was to get to know the activities and procedures of the DLG better through personal exchange and to benefit from the experience of how solutions and services were and are developed together with farmers. On site at the IPZ, Siv Biada and Dr. Bruno Görlach welcomed the representatives of SACAU. Afterwards, the basic idea as well as the structure, the functioning and the fields of activity of the DLG were explained. The main focus was put on the functioning of the Technical Center Agriculture - activities in the main office, committee work, knowledge transfer, expert network, internationality and innovation.

In order to explain the international networking of the DLG, the global fields of activity and trade fairs were also explained in more detail by DLG-International. After a midday refreshment, the IPZ and their projects were then presented. Field trials, projects to strengthen digitalization in agriculture and also network organization showed the breadth of the technical work. During a tour, the impressions could be illustrated. The strengthening of biodiversity and also adaptation strategies to climate change are on the agenda of the field activities.

Due to the early harvest date, it was also possible to follow the harvest of individual trial plots live on site. For example, the visual differences in the irrigation system comparison could be confirmed by initial projections in the field. The round trip also revealed the prevailing dry conditions at the Bernburg site and thus demonstrated the optimal conditions of the site for projects in the field of adaptation of agriculture to the climate.