It has been an eventful year for SASAS so far, especially as our lives start normalising after the pandemic, with some very interesting developments.
Journals
Dr Mike MacNeil has retired as editor in chief of SAJAS and is congratulated and thanked for the excellent performance of the journal which now boasts an Impact Factor exceeding 1.
Ms Martina van Heerden resigned as the Layout editor for SAJAS in March. PlaasMedia has been appointed as the new layout editors for SAJAS papers. Martina is sincerely thanked for 10 years of unstinting service to the journal Dr Marion Young has taken over the reins as editor in chief from 1 July and we are confident that the journal will continue in its upward trajectory under her editorship.
Applied Animal Husbandry and Rural Development
Our journal, the AAH&RD has been recognised by African Journals OnLine (AJOL) and has been assigned a One Star JPPS rating. Our editor, Dr Douglas Nkosi and his team are congratulated on this achievement.
Animal Frontiers
SASAS has been invited to publish a guest society issue of the journal, Animal Frontiers, in 2023, which is a great honour for our society.
Congresses
The arrangements for our 2022 congress, hosted by the KZN Branch are progressing well. It’s been a steep learning curve presenting a hybrid congress. We are looking forward to another round of the PlaasMedia student quiz. Preliminary rounds will be on-line and the top 3 teams will contest the final at congress. Another innovation for this congress is a student debate, with teams from our universities competing against each other. For more information on the speakers and programme, visit the congress website, sasacongress.co.za. So far, a healthy 122 short paper or poster submissions have been received.
The All Africa Association for Animal Production is planning an “All Africa Congress for Animal Agriculture” online conference hosted by the Botswana Society of Livestock Science and Production and the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The congress has been postponed to 2023, with the final dates still to be announced. SASAS members are encouraged to support this initiative.
The global conference of the World Association for Animal Production (WAAP) is organized every five years. The 13th World Association for Animal Production (www.waap.it) conference that will be held in Lyon (France) in August 2023 with the theme: Climate change, biodiversity and global sustainability of Animal Production. It is planned to be a hybrid meeting. Prof Norman Casey will be representing SASAS (as a WAAP member) at the conference.
Council 2022
The following council member’s terms expire this year:
- Dr Foch de Witt (completed 2 terms)
- Mr Sibo Gcumisa (completed 1 term)
- Ms Natasha Snyman (resigned)
- Dr Linde du Toit (completed 1 term)
Dr du Toit and Mr Gcumisa are eligible for re-nomination for a further term. Nominations need to be submitted to the secretary by 27 July. Nomination forms are available from the secretary.
Professional Affairs Committee (PAC)
The present SACNASP Animal Science PAC’s term is ending soon. Dr Ockert Einkamerer (UFS) and Prof Linky Makgahlela (ARC) have been nominated as our representatives for the upcoming term. Dr Christine Jansen van Rensburg is sincerely thanked for her service on this committee since 2016.
Membership
As it stands, SASAS currently has 335 registered members with more expected to renew their membership as the congress approaches.
Candidate Mentoring Phase (CMP) Program
The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) is rolling out the Candidate Mentoring Phase (CMP) program for 2022/23. SACNASP requires the support of accredited voluntary associations (VAs) to successfully implement the program and requested VA’s to make proposals. With the inputs of Jackie Tucker, a proposal was submitted and accepted. Jackie will oversee the mentoring of 25 candidate animal scientists over the next year. Please support this initiative to assist graduates to advance in our profession.
Animal Science Societies in the SADC region.
Prof CB Banga has been in discussions with Animal Scientists in SADC region. Some form of regional cooperation is proposed. A suggestion was to consider offering affiliate membership to our society to the other societies in the SADC region, to involve them and to advance animal science in the SADC region. This proposal would effectively mean that members of the other Societies or Animal Science/Livestock production in the region can participate in SASAS events at member rates and vice versa.
Student Merit Awards
Prof Nephawe suggested to council that as the Advanced Diploma is considered equivalent to a final year BSc, it should also be considered for SASAS student merit awards. Consequently, merit awards will now be awarded to the best student studying for the Advanced Diploma (Animal Production), commencing in 2023.
SASAS Bursary
The 2022 SASAS bursary for postgraduate studies, based on academic merit, was awarded to Ms Isabel Mpofu from the University of Fort Hare.
We look forward to seeing you at our 53rd SASAS congress.
