News

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.

Namibia has declared an outbreak of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Gobabis, after someone died of the disease in a hospital in Windhoek.

Free State Agriculture (FSA) has expressed serious concern about the impact of load-shedding on producer prices for red meat.

South Africa’s annual consumer inflation rate slowed to 6,8% in April 2023 from 7,1% in March. Although a small change, it does represent the lowest reading since May 2022, when the rate was 6,5%.

The world's largest poultry exporter, Brazil, has declared a 180-day animal health emergency starting on Monday, 23 May.

A potential crisis in animal health as well as food safety and security looms in South Africa because of a shortage of veterinarians in the country.

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) expects above-normal rainfall for most parts of the country in early winter. For the southern coastal areas and the south-west, the mid- to late winter forecast is above-normal and below-normal rainfall respectively.

Grain SA (GSA) succeeded in creating an excellent platform for local and international agricultural suppliers and manufacturers to introduce the latest and most advanced global technology.

The implementation of Proposition 12 in California may be the final straw for many pig farmers across the US. This is according to Dwight Mogler, a large-scale pig producer in northwest Iowa and a member of the National Pork Producers’ Council (NPPC) board.

Government recently approved anti-dumping duties, ranging between 8,8% to 239%, on frozen potato chips imported from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Climate change challenges have taken a toll on Zambia’s bumper harvests of recent years, prompting authorities to consider initiating countervailing measures to ensure sustained food security.