Dr Theo De Jager

Theo de Jager was elected as president of the World Farmers' Organisation (WFO) on 14 June 2017. Dr de Jager is the first South African to head the organisation and the second African after Dr Evelyn Nguleka from Zambia.

He represented AgriSA at the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) for the past eight years and has been president since 2013. He was also President of the Pan-African Farmers’ Organisation (PAFO) until recently. De Jager is a co-founder of Agri All Africa, a company which assists small farmers in Africa to transition to commercial farming. He was also voted South African Agriculturalist of the Year in 2016 by the Agricultural Writers SA.

He holds his doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Pretoria (1988), where he focused his research on authentic African Philosophy. He has farmed since 1997 in the South African Lowveld region with timber and subtropical fruits (Avo’s, mangoes and macadamia nuts). He is deputy President of AgriSA and responsible for land reform, transformation, farmer development and Africa Liaison since 2008. He is also the President of SACAU and President of PAFO, starting December 2014, Board Member of ACTESA since April 2015 and Chairman of CAADP Non State Actors Coalition (CNC) since March 2015.

He formerly served as the president of Agri Limpopo, executive member of Agri Letaba, Chairman of the Trichardtsdal farmer association and farmed in the Tzaneen district since 1997 in South Africa.