Southern African Society for Plant Pathology

Western Cape Branch Symposium

The first symposium of the Western-Cape branch of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) was held on Thursday, 8 May 2008, at the Infruitec-campus of ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij in Stellenbosch. During the symposium, twenty-three speakers discussed the future of fungicides as well as alternative ways of plant disease control, pathogen identification and detection, plant improvement and the managment of post-harvest diseases to reduce the spoilage of harvested crops.

Photo 1: Speakers during the SASPP symposium day. From left to right, back: Dr. Johan Fourie (ExperiCo), Dr. Karin Jacobs (Department Microbiology, US), Dr. Lizel Mostert (Department Plant pathology, US), Mr. André Erasmus (BASF), Mr. Kobus Hartman (Capespan Exports), Dr. Paul Fourie (Citrus Research International), Prof. Bill Fry (Cornell University), Mr. Bekker Wessels (ProCrop Trust). Middle: Mr. Pieter le Roux (Villa Crop Protection). Front: Dr. Michael-John Freeborough (Department Genetics, US), Dr. Yolanda Petersen (Agricultural Research Council), Dr. Abré de Beer (Institute for Viticulture, US), Me. Anika Brackenridge (Institute for Plant Biotechnology, US), Dr. Elisa Angelini (CRA-VIT), Mr. Nolan Africander (Plant Quarantine, Department of Agriculture), Dr. Jeremy Klaasen (University of the Western Cape) and Mr. Ferdi van Zyl (SAPO Trust). Speakers not present when photo was take were Mr. Rupert Anelich (Syngenta), Mr. Petrie de Kock (Bayer CropScience), Mr. Werner Witbooi (ExperiCo), Dr. Strauss Ferreira (AgroOrganics), Dr. Renée Prins (CenGen), Prof. Altus Viljoen (Department of Plant Pathology, US) and Prof. Fred Asiegbu (University of Helsinki).