Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister, Thoko Didiza, says she is greatly saddened to learn about Professor Mohammad Karaan\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n
Karaan is a former Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University (SU) and a champion of agriculture and rural development.<\/p>\n
The department has described the Professor as a giant in South Africa\u2019s agriculture, with an enormous contribution to policy and academia.<\/p>\n
He served in the government\u2019s National Planning Commission and was the Chairperson of the National Agricultural Marketing Council. He is also a former board member of the Land Bank and the Agricultural Research Council and most recently, a member of the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cProf Karaan\u2019s passing is a massive loss for the country, at a time when we need leading development thinkers and practitioners like him the most, as the country begins to implement the Economic Recovery Plan,\u201d said Minister Didiza.<\/p>\n
\u201cChapter six of the National Development Plan was largely drawn from his vision for agricultural and rural development, which emphasised a need for public-private partnership approaches in agricultural development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minister has called on citizens to honour his legacy by continuing with his approach of the broader government agricultural development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe send our sympathies and prayers to Prof Karaan\u2019s family at this challenging time. The agricultural community will miss Prof Karaan\u2019s insights and wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Stellenbosch University, at the time of his death on 13 January 2021, he was Professor in Agricultural Economics and President of Maties Rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really shocking to hear of Professor Mohammad Karaan’s untimely death. He was a particularly valued and beloved colleague who made his mark \u2013 at SU, but also nationally and internationally,” Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers, said.<\/p>\n
The current Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences, Professor Danie Brink said they will remember him as a remarkable leader, conciliator, true influencer in agricultural circles and a friend. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis death is a huge loss to the South African agricultural sector at large, and in particular also to our faculty. He was a special man who had the ability to bring people from different spheres together. His heart was in agriculture, and he believed in strengthening it.”<\/p>\n
Brink said Karaan was empathic towards others, supported colleagues and had an insight and ability to unravel complex issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has had a lasting impact on the vision of the faculty, the university, on agriculture and South Africa.”<\/p>\n
Karaan is survived by his wife, Basheerah and children, Zayne, Kamilah, Tauriq, Burhan and Adam.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is a big loss, and our hearts go out to his family in this very sad time,” De Villiers added. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister, Thoko Didiza, says she is greatly saddened to learn about Professor Mohammad Karaan\u2019s passing. Karaan is a former Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University (SU) and a champion of agriculture and rural development. The department has described the Professor as a giant in South Africa\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-177266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}