The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), founded in 2004, serves the agro-food, fibre and beverage sectors in South Africa and Africa.
Our purpose is to inform better decision-making by providing unique insights gained through rigorous analyses, supported by credible databases, a combination of integrated models and considerable experience. Over more than 15 years, the Bureau has developed a very distinct value proposition to deliver a holistic solution to public sector and private clients active in the agricultural sector and related value chains. This offering is complemented through BFAP’s investment in the Integrated Value Information System (IVIS), a geospatial platform, which further enhances BFAP’s product offering by providing enhanced systems-solutions to the integration of data and insights visualisation to support strategic decision making along multi-dimensional value chains. The BFAP Group consists of a team of experienced private and public sector experts with a range of multidisciplinary skills including agricultural economics, food science, mathematics and data science, engineering, supply chain management, socio-economic impact assessment, systems technology, and geo-informatics. In addition, we fundamentally believe that a competitive and thriving agricultural sector with its related value chains is built on longrun partnerships. Hence, BFAP has developed a well-established network of local and international collaborators and partners in the public and private sector. This includes long-standing partnerships with private sector clients for more than a decade, and research partners like the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research institute (IFPRI). BFAP is also one of the founding members and partners of the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI) in Eastern and Southern Africa. As a team and as a network, we pool our knowledge and experience to offer the best possible insights and access to a unique high value network. BFAP’s vision and mission is to: • undertake unbiased, scientifically rigorous and industry relevant research; • generate research outputs and solutions guided by market based requirements and scenarios in order to drive sustainable commodity and food production and improve food security; • support capacity development through postgraduate research at associated Universities and other; and • publish research outputs with associated Universities in peer reviewed journals as well as respected popular media. BFAP acknowledges and appreciates the tremendous insight of numerous industry specialists and collaborators over the past years. The financial support from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, the National Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and ABSA Agribusiness towards the development and publishing of this Baseline is also gratefully acknowledged. Although all industry partners’ comments and suggestions are taken into consideration, BFAP’s own views are presented in this Baseline publication.
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