Prelude to a disaster Loskop Dam goes toxic
Mining pollution threatens to turn Loskop Dam into the largest toxic acid lake in Africa, as decades of coal mining on the Mpumalanga Highveld starts to catch up with us....
Emalahleni by-laws to tame killer dogs
A heated debate took place at the Indwe police station between police, Emalahleni municipal officials and farmers from Indwe and Dordrecht.
Bringing up broilers
Robyn Joubert visited Hanbury Chickens, a family-run broiler business in KwaZulu- Natal. Modest and efficient, the Hanburys use modern methods to get the most out of their birds - guaranteeing...
Why we can’t lose the renosterveld
As it made way for the sprawling croplands of the Western Cape, renosterveld became synonymous with agricultural non-productivity, earning itself names like uitvalgrond. But, as Odette Curtis writes, this shrinking...
Sizwe’s stud success
In 1994 Sizwe Manjezi acquired some 900ha near Peddie in the Eastern Cape to expand his family tradition of cattle farming. Even though he's at the helm of a respected...
Fighting cross-border stock theft: making a way of a will
Feeling let down by government policing efforts, a group of farmers in rural KwaZulu-Natal have established their own innovative and successful system to fight stock theft between the province and...
Orange spuds feeding the nation
In South Africa's rural areas children have alarmingly low levels of vitamin A, which can result in infections, blindness and even death. To combat this critical deficiency, researchers suggest the...
CDs to save the grapes
Dieter Sellmeyer of Lynx Wines, a small boutique winery near Franschhoek, believes CDs are for the birds - metaphorically, not literally.
Food for restitution thought?
The Popela judgment by the Constitutional Court is probably the most important legal benchmark in land reform law since the Richtersveld ruling in 2004. It has widened the definition of...
Gwanya hands over 32 000 hectares of Tenbosch
Some 32 000 hectares of land worth R1 billion was officially handed over recently to four communities as part of the Greater Tenbosch land claim in Mpumalanga's deep rural Nkomazi...
Communities now own 75% of St Lucia Wetland Park
Land claims on the world heritage site, Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (GSLWP) in northern Zululand, are being settled quickly and amicably between affected parties.
Communal cattle farming: culture versus competition
Over 50% of all stock in the Eastern Cape belong to communal farmers, which is why efforts are being made to absorb these animals into mainstream marketing channels and to...
‘We feel secure’
With the option of buying a controlling share in Kanhym Estates, one of South Africa's most successful agribusinesses, empowerment consortium Kgomo Kgolo seems to have done a good job in...
Can New Hair undo CMH damage?
At the recent mohair producers' conference held in Port Elizabeth in early June, the buying houses, for once, were not the hot topic of debate. Gordon Wright was there and...
‘Farming today is in itself an achievement’
Wim Scholtz, a 34-year-old farmer from the Vryburg district, has been nominated as the North West finalist for the 2007 Toyota Young Farmer of the Year competition. Wilma den Hartigh...
Cultivating effective young black farmers
Independent agricultural education institutions catering to the black youth could be an answer to our land reform failures. With the financial support of private corporations and the mentorship of successful...
Fruit export chain – transparency needed
Trade liberalisation has resulted in huge market expansion for South African fruit. It has, however, also resulted in numerous new challenges for producers. Glenneis Erasmus reports.
Aloes alleviate poverty in the Eastern Cape
Cape Aloes (Aloe ferox) in the Eastern Cape have provided the Xhosa people with medicinal and cosmetic necessities for hundreds of years. Recently their value has been recognised in helping...
Could jatropha fuel biodiesel production?
Jatropha is a hardy, high oil content crop with serious potential for biodiesel production in South Africa. But as it is classified as a noxious weed, large-scale cultivation has also...
Agritourism helps ostrich farm fly high
Agritourism has grown substantially from 2% of the tourism industry in the Western Cape in 1996 to 10% of the foreign tourist market currently. For most farms, tourism contributes between...
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