Dr Adriaan du Toit is appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors at SABIO – the South African Bee Industry Organisation.
Adriaan du Toit first showed his love for the study of nature when he and his brother started keeping bees in their parents’ back garden while studying in the Natural Sciences. He went on to complete his BSc (Hons) in Entomology at the University of Pretoria. Adriaan took up a position as Assistant Agricultural Researcher (Apiculture) in the Beekeeping Division of the Plant Protection Research Institute in 1982. His dedication and skill led to his steady promotion, until, by the time he left in 1995, he occupied the position of Principal Agricultural Researcher, at which time he was responsible for all crop pollination research in South Africa.
In 1995, Adriaan formed Le Toit Apiaries and Le Toit Management Consultants. He has used the vast range of experience gained at the Institute to not only begin a commercial beekeeping operation, but also to offer consulting services in agriculture. He was a member of the Ministerial appointed Apicultural Advisory committee, member of various committees of professional bodies, dedicates time to refereeing of papers and has had a number of papers published, national and international.
In the Agricultural field, he had been appointed as consultant by various sunflower seed grower houses and subtropical fruit growers to monitor and advise on honeybee pollination strategies. Adriaan gradually moved into the field of quality assurance in the processed food industry due to demand from his client base.
Adriaan was editor of the South African Bee Journal (2002 – 2006), published eight scientific papers, fourteen semi-scientific & nineteen popular publications and presented twenty-five lectures at scientific symposia and conferences. He also served as committee member in various capacities of Northerns Beekeeping, POSA North, South African Beekeepers Federation and SABIO.
Adriaan is a recipient of three industry awards, The IH Wiese award for the best scientific publication on Beekeeping (1999) and Witwatersrand Agricultural Show gold medal winner (1998 and 2000).
Adriaan may be contacted on cell phone 083 306 1446 or email at adriaandt@sabio.org.za
