News

The expenditure on agri-parks by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) came under scrutiny during a recent meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

The slight reduction in the price of diesel that came into effect on Wednesday, 5 May, will only bring relief for farmers if it is sustained over several months.

Although the heavy downpours accompanying the intense cold front system that made landfall in the Southern Cape on Wednesday, 5 May, have been welcomed, it resulted in some damage and disruption.

A sixth outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has now been reported in South Africa, according to Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of the South African Poultry Association’s (SAPA) broiler organization.

The recent sale of the eight-year-old Ankole bull ‘Sebastiaan’ (A12 36), for a record price of R3 million, has highlighted the bright future of the breed in South Africa.

After serving as CEO of Grain SA (GSA) for a decade, Jannie de Villiers has announced that he is stepping down and will be leaving the commodity organisation on 31 August.

The tens of thousands of farmers in India who have been protesting against new agricultural laws are seemingly undeterred by the second, more devastating wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in that country.

Should the recommendation to halt the breeding of lions in captivity, among other practices, be implemented, poaching of free-roaming lions could increase as a result.

The marathon drought in the Northern and Eastern Cape is escalating into a humanitarian crisis. The western part of the Eastern Cape and adjacent parts of the Northern Cape have been suffering from drought for at least the past seven years and farmers are in the depths of despair, according to Doug Stern, Agri Eastern Cape president.

The four farmers and one farm manager arrested for, among other charges, the alleged murder of two men in Mpumalanga’s Dirkiesdorp area near Piet Retief in the Mkhondo Local Municipality on 9 April, were released on R10 000 bail each by the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court on 30 April.

The time has come for the citizens of Lesotho and South Africa to take hands and act against criminals surreptitiously crossing the border between the two countries.

The case of an 80-year-old Limpopo farmer, David Rakgase, who recently received the title deed for the 3 000ha farm he had been leasing from government for at least 20 years, has highlighted the failures in South Africa’s land administration systems.

Farm prices in South Africa are currently in the process of recovery, broadly reflecting good rainfall and subsequent high crop yields, as well as general regional economic realities.

South African farmers will now have direct access to advice and assistance with labour matters, while being represented on several national labour forums.

Disruptions to global supply chains have resulted in a shortage of the steel, plastics, microchips and tires that US machinery manufacturers need to produce tractors and combine harvesters.

Following a shortage of tomatoes and resultant sharp spike in prices since February this year, the situation is expected to normalise in the next two weeks, with supplies on South Africa’s fresh produce markets increasing and prices dropping.

In March, South Africa’s headline inflation increased slightly to 3,2% year-on-year (y/y), up from 2,9% reported in February.

Mpumalanga Agriculture has expressed concern about some government leaders and members of the public pre-judging the five accused who have appeared in the Piet Retief Magstrates’ Court in connection with the killing of two men on a farm in the district earlier this month.

A second case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been reported on a North West broiler breeder farm, where 14 000 birds have been culled.

Although South Africa’s cotton industry celebrated production growth of 800% over the preceding five years in 2019, the industry has shown a 40% decrease in hectares planted to the crop during the past two seasons.