South Africa

The North West farming community has welcomed an announcement by the province’s premier Prof Tebogo Job Mokgoro that a total of R36,7 million has been spent in the first quarter of 2021 to repair roads that had been damaged by recent flooding.

South Africa’s commercial agricultural sector needs the same support as “new farmers”. This was the opinion of Christo van der Rheede, executive director of Agri SA, responding to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department), Thoko Didiza’s budget address delivered in Parliament on Thursday, 13 May.

With no new cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) being reported in South Africa this week, the outbreak seems to be under control, but the spread of the virus through wild aquatic birds is still anticipated.

With COVID-19 related lockdowns around the world resulting in increased demand for basic food items due to more home-cooking, food manufacturers saw it as an opportunity to slightly increase the prices of these items.

South Africa is expected to export a record 2,8 million tons of maize in the 2020/2021 marketing season, according to the latest estimate of the National Agriculture Marketing Council (NAMC).

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.

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.