News

The lockdowns that have been put in place in many countries around the world, due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, have seen consumer demand for certain commodities increase sharply.

In this second episode of our special coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic podcast Farmer’s Weekly SA editor, Denene Erasmus again highlights how the publication has adapted to keep readers up to date with news and information relevant to the sector and the public at large during this critical period.

Prior to the national lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), stakeholders in South Africa’s agriculture industry had already started engaging with government about measures that would enable food security and prevent scenarios such as food riots.

Unlike highly perishable and other food crops, wool is considered a non-essential agricultural product.

Smallholder farmers have expressed disappointment with the application process for receiving financial relief from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (department of agriculture) during the lockdown period which was implemented to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The South Africa blueberry industry continues to set record-breaking growth trends, with export volumes for 2019/2020 increasing more than 50% compared with the previous season.

Due to panic-buying by consumers prior to the national lockdown aimed at containing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, South Africa’s red meat industry saw some short-term gains.

South Africans should prepare themselves for heavy rainfall and a preview to the coming winter as a cold front makes its way across the central and south-eastern parts of the country over the next few days.

Agricultural companies and entities in South Africa and other parts of the world are repurposing parts of their operations to manufacture products to bolster the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic could worsen the food shortage currently being experienced in Zimbabwe.

The impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic is being felt across the global fibre industry, with production, logistics and retail sales being brought to a grinding halt.

Agricultural commodities have, for the most part, come off lightly amid worldwide supply chain disruptions as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic.

Zimbabwe’s maize harvest is likely to differ substantially from region to region this season, with some areas realising a below-average harvest and others an above-average harvest, due to erratic rainfall during the growing period, industry officials have said.

The South African agriculture sector forms the backbone of South Africa’s economy, but this fact has been largely ignored by government.

Lockdown restrictions in many countries around the world due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic have resulted in the growing trend of people growing fruit and vegetables at home.

Opportunities exist for farmers and agro-processors to enter the small, but growing paprika market in South Africa.

With US dairy farmers forced to dump thousands of litres of unprocessed raw milk daily amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, farm level milk prices for 2020 is expected to decline sharply.

The widespread negative socio-economic impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic globally is likely to include a 2,6% to 7% contraction in sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural production.

It is still uncertain how the lockdown for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and depreciation of the rand will impact farm input prices.

In this first episode of our special coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic podcast series, Farmer’s Weekly editor, Denene Erasmus, gives an update on how the publication has adapted to keep readers up to date with news and information relevant to the sector, and the public at large, during this critical period.