Business

is a serious poultry disease and can affect any kind of poultry operation, from backyard production to large commercial poultry farms.

Kevin Watermeyer, president of the Nguni Cattle Breeders' Society of South Africa, shares his views about the way forward for animal improvement and the future of the Nguni. Heather Dugmore reports.

American missionaries Ronnie and Janet Vehorn travelled to South Africa to preach to the Xhosa. Now they've fulfilled their dream of establishing the Eastern Cape's first wine estate along the Klipplaat River near the former Ciskei town of Whittlesea.

It's very upsetting knowing you have to pay an account when you don't know where the money is going to come from. That's why keeping track of your expenses is so important, writes Susan Pletts.

Eastern Cape's Umnga flats was once a highly productive commercial farming area. But it slipped into decay in the early 1980s, when commercial farmers were relocated and the farms were leased to emerging farmers and incorporated into the former Transkei bantustan.

Some 13 years after the Tafelkop Farmers Association "invaded" an unused irrigation scheme in Groblersdal, they still haven't acquired the title deeds promised to them by the then minister of agriculture Derek Hanekom, and a once flourishing agricultural project is now in shambles. Peter Mashala visited the farmers to find out what went wrong.

After 25 years of trading and farming in Elliotdale in the former Transkei, Zolani Tyali eventually settled on Brooklyn, a commercial farm near Morgan’s Bay in the Eastern Cape. He transferred most of the family’s Ngunis to the new farm and improved his herd by introducing bulls acquired from farmers belonging to the East Cape Nguni Club. But without fencing on his farm, that herd’s integrity is at risk.

Once Eskom's poster boy for electrified greenhouse heating, cut-flower farmer David Gates feels he has now been hung out to dry by the state utility. The annual fees he's charged are up to R150 000 before he's even flicked on a switch, and they're crippling his business.

Poverty alleviation and improved food security in KwaZulu-Natal has found an ally in the tasty and sought-after oyster mushroom. With help from the Chinese government, KwaDindi residents are now diversifying their diets and earning much-needed cash.

Cape Town-based entrepreneur Wynand Odendaal says spekboom is ready to take the carbon market by storm – and earn some farmers big money. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.

Bone Mokomele is an emerging farmer who served as an extension officer for the agriculture department for more than 10 years. A land restitution beneficiary, he farms wheat near Brits in the North West. Peter Mashala spoke to him about the challenges facing new emerging farmers.

The planned ethanol-from-sugar-beet project in Cradock looks like it's going ahead. But the farming community has been left divided, with some excited by the prospect of new markets, while others dread increased crime and a disrupted community.