News

Global agricultural equipment company, AGCO, recently announced plans to restructure its Asia-Pacific region to include Africa and increase its operations in Africa. Gary Collar, senior vice-president and general manager (GM) for Asia-Pacific and Africa and Nuradin Osman, GM for AGCO Africa, spoke to Denene Erasmus about AGCO’s plans for expansion in Africa that will be driven from the company’s new regional headquarters in Johannesburg.

There are strong suspicions that the recent mislabelling of citrus being sold in Spain as having originated from South Africa, was a malicious action designed to fuel the current dispute between the two countries’ citrus sectors, according to the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA).

Grain SA called on grain farmers to be on the alert for possible outbreaks of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), with possible incidence of this pest already reported in different areas of Limpopo, North West and the Free State.

The outbreak of the virulent H5 strain of avian flu in Uganda, has led to Kenya and Rwanda banning the importation of all poultry and poultry products from that country, Willy Bett, Kenya's agriculture cabinet secretary said at a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mastercard recently launched its 2KUZE project, a digital platform that connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in East Africa. This was according to a Mastercard press release.

Copper thieves were recently arrested in the Western Cape after a local farm watch group alerted Eskom’s security risk division.

Safeguarding the training of vets remains a top priority for the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the organisation is committed to developing appropriate guidelines for their education.

Widespread rainfall in Zimbabwe has increased the national dam level average, which had dropped to as low as 42% in 2016.

The recent widespread rain in the western parts of SA’s summer grain production region has changed the scenery from a virtual desert to a lush environment. Annelie Coleman reports.

The European Union (EU) has announced funding of €35 million (about R507 million) for agricultural development in Liberia, as well as support for the country’s General Auditing Commission (GAC).

On 16 January, 1 246 tea lovers sipped their way into setting a world record to celebrate National Rooibos Day.

The Land Bank has urged emerging farmers to make use of its financial services intermediary partners.

Zimbabwe is currently battling an outbreak of armyworm that has affected seven of the country’s eight rural provinces.

An agricultural economist has described national agricultural machinery sales for December 2016 and the 2016 calendar year as painting a “mixed picture”.

The shortage of a variety of fresh produce, much of it usually imported from South Africa, is due to a self-imposed import ban.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has lifted the export ban on the South American country.

Clanwilliam, referred to by some locals as the ‘Rooibos Capital of the World’, will host South Africa’s first Rooibos Day on 16 January.

The first South African wool sale of 2017 year got off to a promising start, according to Cape Wools. The company’s Merino indicator increased by 761 points to close the day at R154,54 (clean), up 9% on the corresponding sale last year.

Acting on behalf of 40 local environmental organisations, the Namibia Chamber of Environment has sent an open letter to the Chinese embassy in Windhoek, bemoaning the fact that some Chinese nationals continue to show a blatant disregard of Namibia’s legal and environmental values, said organisation CEO Dr Chris Brown.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has requested the re-release of reports that investigated water quality, water loss and compliance. The reports were previously released to the public, but were now confidential.