News

The recent sharp decline in food inflation is obviously good news for cash-strapped consumers, but bad news for the agriculture sector.

Zambia’s 2022/23 maize harvest is expected to be 25,2% lower than last year’s. The crop has been forecast at 2,7 million tons, compared with 3,62 million tons recorded in 2021/2022.

Growers and industry specialists are warning that consumers in Ireland can expect a shortage of fruit and vegetables for the rest of 2023.

Farmers are being called on to work together to build safer communities, rather than wait for government to act.

The latest Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) shows that agribusiness has significant apprehension about business conditions in South Africa.

While the extent of damage is still unclear, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture is estimating losses caused by flooding in the province at between R750 million and R1 billion.

Zimbabwe has recorded its best tobacco season yet on record, having sold at least 261 million kilograms so far in the 2023 marketing season.

As the summer rainfall region enters the fire season, farmers have been cautioned to keep a watchful eye on Eskom lines and transformers.

Heavy rains since Wednesday have been causing huge damages to roads and infrastructure in the Western Cape.

-Holders of Zimbabwean exemption permits have been urged to get their visas in order if they want to stay in South Africa after December.

US lawmakers recently published an open letter in which they asked the White House to move the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Summit, scheduled to take place this year in November, away from South Africa, citing the latter country’s seemingly close relationship with Russia.

Politicians and businesses have been challenged via a new billboard campaign to close the food gap in South Africa. The campaign, which has been launched in Johannesburg and will soon be rolled out countrywide, makes use of 300 billboards demanding urgent action to make basic nutritious food more affordable.

The production of winter crops in Australia is expected to fall sharply during the coming season from the record highs experienced during the past few seasons.

Global access to the latest seed technology will play a vital role in food security as climate change increasingly hinders food production.

The Department of Water and Sanitation recently published a draft in which it proposed that certain enterprises would need up to 75% black shareholding to apply for water licences. The shareholding requirement would depend on the volume of water applied for or the area covered, in the case of commercial forestry.

The US$8,7 million (about R169 million) that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently contributed to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe came at a perilous time in that country, the WFP said in a statement.

Prolonged rainfall on a scale rarely seen before is severely hampering wheat production in China, resulting in crops becoming infecting with blight and leading to preharvest sprouting.

South Africa’s unemployment rate increased by 0,2% to 32,9% from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, according to Statistics South Africa’s recently released Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

Low inventories of eggs and chickens at the retail level have sparked rumours that the sale of poultry products is being halted to curb the spread of avian influenza to consumers.

The crime statistics for January to March 2023, released on Tuesday, show that communities, especially agricultural communities, are left to safeguard their families, properties and businesses by themselves.