BuaNews (Tshwane)
Nthambeleni Gabara
7 October 2008
Pretoria — Attracting young people from historically disadvantaged communities into the Veterinary field remains a challenge.
Speaking at the opening of the Onderstepoort Pan African Veterinary Conference on Tuesday, Land Affairs and Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana a plan needs to be found to attract and retain veterinarians in South Africa.
"We have a challenge of training young veterinarians and ensuring that they stay and practise in the country.
"Most of the Veterinarians who train from the Onderstepoort Faculty leave the country to search for greener pastures in other countries," the minister said.
People in the rural areas of the country, she said, were still getting infected with diseases that can be prevented, such as Rabies.
"We know that the hub and knowledge for tropical diseases is in Africa. We must jealously guard all these resources, so that African scientists should be in position to continue with their work and find answers to recent challenges," she said.
According to Ms Xingwana, this can only be achieved through investing in agricultural research and human capacity to ensure that scientists stay in the country, if not the continent.
Deputy Director-General of the Department of Agriculture, Mmamokgaba Mogajane also shared the same sentiments that young people need to be trained and retained in the Veterinary field.
"We need to train more young Veterinarians whom we must also be able to retain. Young people in the rural areas need to be exposed to the available opportunities in the Veterinarian industry," she said.
Dr Mogajane, who completed her studies in 1987, was the first black woman to qualify as a Veterinarian in South Africa.
She said that while the outbreak of animal diseases has influenced consumption patterns, the African continent needed good scientists who were in a position to guide policy development.
The President of the South African Veterinary Council, Rebone Moerane said there was also a need in South Africa to attract young Veterinarians from the rural areas into research.
"It is true that we have a shortage of Veterinarians in the country, so we need to vigorously expose young black South Africans into the Veterinarian field.
"Once we can do this, we will be able to promote food safety and contribute towards food security, in that we will also be moving towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015," he said.
Since its establishment 100 years ago, Onderstepoort Faculty has contributed immensely to the country's economic growth, development and food security.
It continues to play a major role in research, diagnostic services, vaccines and veterinary training in the Southern African Development Community.
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