The association has been running the Perfect Pork programme for the past three years, targeting Grade 10 pupils to widen their knowledge and motivate them to take a liking to pork, according to Jacobus Hoffman, the association’s general manager.
Addressing delegates attending the association’s symposium and annual general meeting at Equestria in Pretoria recently, Hoffman said a lot of effort had been put in to make the programme fun, interesting and informative.
The impact of the programme had been positive, he said, with 80% of participants saying they consumed pork, while the 20% who did not admitted that their perceptions on pork had changed.
Depending on the programme’s success it could be rolled out at national level, Hoffman said.
According to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) Baseline Agricultural Outlook 2015-2024, the consumption of pork in South Africa increased by 42% over the past decade.
Consumption was expected to expand by a further 33% over the baseline period.
This equated to 75 000 tons of pork and represented just over 7% of total additional meat consumption by 2024, the BFAP report said.
