News

The looming cabinet reshuffle is expected to have a damaging effect on agriculture, no matter the outcome.

South Africa is set to harvest the second biggest maize crop on record this season. The Crop Estimates Committee has revised its estimate for the 2017 maize crop upwards by 3% from 13,918 million tons to 14,3 million tons.

The 5th Commercial Farm Africa summit in Tanzania brought together industry professionals from all over the continent to share insights into transforming Africa’s agricultural value chain.

A joint venture between Schweppes Zimbabwe and a government parastatal, which invested US$3 million (R45m) in a fruit-processing plant near the capital Harare last year, is to spend an additional US$10 million (R150m) on another beneficiation facility in southern Zimbabwe.

“Land will not be taken arbitrarily. Nobody will just grab your land.” This was the reassurance given by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, towards foreign landowners at a media briefing in Parliament recently.

South African farmworkers are increasingly becoming the victims of farm attacks, in addition to the already high numbers of attacks on, and murders of, farmers and their immediate families.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of South Africa (AMIE SA) supports the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (DAFF) decision to suspend business dealings with Brazilian meat export companies suspected of bribery.

A group of 16 students from South Dakota State University (SDSU) visited South Africa during their March spring break, according to Kierra Leddy, an agricultural communications major at the university.

The Ugandan minister of agriculture, animal industries and fisheries, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, has issued a warning about fall armyworm infestations in that country.

Transformation is important to ensure sustainable success in the agricultural sector, said Dr Brand Pretorius, former CEO of Toyota SA Marketing and McCarthy Limited and currently a director of a number of listed companies, during his address at the annual SKOG pre-harvest day held in Moorreesburg…

The Competition Commission recently raided the offices of nine market agencies at the Johannesburg and Tshwane fresh produce markets following allegations of collusion and price-fixing.

A young South African agripreneur, Claire Reid, was recently awarded the prestigious Agripreneur of the Year Award at the third Future Agro Challenge (FAC) Global Championships, which took place during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) held in Johannesburg.

While the drought in parts of the Western Cape had adversely affected crop production, it is expected that it would have little effect on this year’s brandy grape harvest.

The Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill, published in the Government Gazette last week, aims to cap land ownership by South African nationals and prohibits direct land ownership by foreigners.

Due to cannabis being categorised as a narcotic drug, it has been proposed that prospective cannabis growers will have to obtain a licence from the Medicines Control Council (MCC) as well as a permit from the Department of Health. This is according to MCC registrar, Joey Gouws.

Brazilian meat-packing companies, Brazil Foods SA (BRF SA) and JBS SA, were recently raided by police after alleged bribery of health officials that could threaten US$12 billion (R152 billion) in annual exports, Reuters reported.

Parmalat received Dairy Product of the Year and four other prestigious Qualité awards at a recent gala event held at the Grand West Casino in Cape Town.

Four of the five edible oils companies that are being investigated by the Competition Commission (CompCom) for alleged anti-competitive practices have reportedly approached the South African High Court to interdict the CompCom from reviewing documents that it seized from the companies’ premises during a search and seizure operation on 8 December 2016.

In 1993, the UN General Assembly designated 22 March as World Water Day, and it has been celebrated annually ever since.

The slaughtering of fewer broilers and the production of fewer eggs had resulted in the decrease of poultry production in Zimbabwe in 2016. This was according to an industry report.