News

There has been a slight uptick in trade on the African continent as some restrictions on the movement of food products have been lifted.

Farmers can expect a significant increase in the demand for online retail sales of food directly to end customers due to consumer behavioural changes that occurred during the current lockdowns in countries around the world to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic.

Stakeholders in the agriculture sector have expressed concern about the increase in theft of agricultural commodities during the lockdown period for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, which is resulting in millions of rand in losses.

Millions of family farmers across Africa are facing economic devastation as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts exports and global food supply chains.

The increasing closure of meat processing plants in the US and Canada amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, will have a marked impact on the agricultural economies in those countries.

The sellers of foodstuffs, who exploit South Africans currently under lockdown restrictions by unjustifiably hiking prices of high-demand staples, will face serious consequences, such as hefty fines and imprisonment.

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.