News

The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has taken a major step in South Africa’s fight against a widespread, costly foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, releasing the first batch of a locally produced FMD vaccine.

BASF South Africa hosted an industry engagement session in Pretoria on Wednesday, where global and regional leaders highlighted the company’s long-term commitment to supporting farmers facing climate volatility, pests and disease.

Agricultural organisations across the sector have warned that South Africa’s latest national minimum wage increase risks intensifying financial pressure on farmers already grappling with disease outbreaks, rising input costs, and weak economic growth.

South Africa’s worsening foot-and-mouth disease crisis highlights the urgent need to rapidly secure and distribute as many effective vaccines as possible to protect the national herd and stabilise an industry already under severe strain.

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has announced that he will not seek re-election as DA leader, but he will remain in his ministerial post, adding that he now intends to focus all his energy on combating the country’s devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Grain SA and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen are pushing for urgent reforms to support wheat farmers, but many producers are concerned that it may be too little, too late.

The latest official fuel price adjustments published by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) show that petrol prices have fallen by around 65c/ℓ, while diesel prices have declined by between 50c and 57c/ℓ, depending on grade.

As South Africa’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak escalates into what experts are calling an unprecedented livestock crisis, scientists, veterinarians, and agriculture specialists have formally stepped in to give farmers practical, science-based guidance while the country awaits the vaccine rollout.

The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture has launched a R19,5 million irrigation scheme revival programme aimed at fighting poverty, creating jobs, and boosting agricultural production and economic activity across the province.

Hortgro, the deciduous fruit industry, is considering taking legal action over port failures that have led to direct losses of hundreds of millions of rands since the start of the 2025/26 season.

Opening the Nedbank Agri Webinar 2026 in Johannesburg on 28 January, which focused on the macro-economic climate, Daneel Rossouw, head of sales for agriculture at Nedbank Commercial Banking, said that global trade challenges in 2025 had a significant impact on local agriculture.

A recycling pilot project at Kruger National Park is successfully diverting significant volumes of waste from landfills and into South Africa’s circular economy, with lessons that could extend far beyond the park’s boundaries and into agricultural and rural settings.

The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the Cabinet memorandum seeking a national state of disaster declaration over South Africa’s ongoing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak has been drafted following a high-level meeting on 30 January.

As South Africa’s red meat industry faces mounting pressure from animal disease risks, climate volatility and shifting market requirements, role players are increasingly turning to research-led platforms to support better decision-making across the value chain.

UD Trucks Southern Africa is positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner to fleet operators navigating an increasingly complex and cost-pressured logistics environment, says Managing Director Filip Van den Heede.

Foot-and-mouth disease is destabilising South Africa’s meat supply chain, shutting down export markets, forcing the destruction of usable product, raising consumer prices, and threatening the beef industry with losses over R13  billion, while some dairy producers might be pushed out of production.

The foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Eswatini, first reported in May 2025, has spread extensively across the country, affecting cattle and pigs, with only one region remaining virus-free.

South Africa has resumed sending foot-and-mouth disease field virus strains to the UK’s Pirbright Institute for the first time in more than a decade, marking a critical step in boosting outbreak response and ensuring vaccines being procured remain effective.

The Gauteng Provincial Government has escalated its response to the ongoing foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, describing the situation as a ‘very serious disaster’ with far-reaching implications for food security, jobs, and economic stability.

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa has launched an investigation into the appropriate level of tariff protection against imported sugar, after the sugar industry asked government for a significant increase, while the beverage industry called for lower tariffs.