News

Extensive damage by an as yet unidentified pest caterpillar, suspected to be fall armyworm (FAW), has been reported on sweet corn and white maize planted for seed production in South Africa, while reports of similar damage has also been received from Namibia.

Fruit South Africa (Fruit SA) has partnered with The Great Fruit Adventure to promote awareness of the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly amongst children.

Agriculture can sustainably make use of wetlands; it is not a case of not utilising them at all, but rather using them wisely.

National farmers’ union, Agri SA, has said that it supports any discussions aimed at reviewing the growing threat posed by armyworm invasions in Southern Africa.

Case IH and its distributor AGRICON donated the first prize, a JX75T 4WD tractor and plough, to the 2016 Zimbabwe Farmer of the Year, Gracious Patricious Makoti from the Sanyati District.

The Stilbaai and Riversdale farming communities are faced with a grazing crisis following a veld fire that affected almost 40 farms in the region.

The island nation of the Seychelles has reportedly banned the import of tomatoes from South Africa. This follows Botswana’s recent and ongoing ban on fresh produce imported from South Africa following an outbreak of Tomato Leaf Miner (TLM) in that country.

Research on conservation planting and farming methods by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture will in future be considerably easier, thanks to the donation of a disc planter.

Slightly more rain than normal can be expected in South Africa’s summer rainfall area for the remainder of the 2016/17 summer season.

South Africa’s table grape crop is likely to be 1% to 2% larger than the first 2016/2017 crop estimate, according to the South African Table Grape Industry (SATGI).

Tru-Cape Fruit, the largest marketer of South African apples and pears, will open its Heritage Orchard of historic apple and pear trees to the public for a guided tour on Saturday, 4 February.

Omri van Zyl, Agri SA’s executive director, was elected president of the World Farmers' Organisation’s (WFO) audit board in Rome, Italy, at a WFO meeting earlier this week.

The drought still dominates wine production in South Africa and may yet have a significant impact on the 2017 vintage.

South Africa needs to manage agricultural produce trade agreements with the UK carefully after Brexit, as the country is but one of many competing for UK markets, says agri-economist Dr Johan Willemse.

Members of South Africa’s fresh produce production and marketing industry have expressed suspicion that Botswana is unfairly protecting its fresh produce farmers in contravention of the arrangements of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) free trade area.

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.