South Africa

Western Cape grain producers are facing another challenging planting season, according to Toit Wessels, assistant manager of marketing and Nampo at Grain SA.

An outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been reported in the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, after authorities investigated the cause of death in 50 pigs from the area.

In this episode of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Farmer’s Weekly editor, Denene Erasmus, and journalist, Sabrina Dean, discuss the top stories featured in the 15 May issue of the magazine. Erasmus also provides an update on how the recently announced closure of Caxton Magazines will affect Farmer’s Weekly.

The six-week national lockdown has been devastating for the South African wine industry.

Entities responsible for protecting South African consumers from unscrupulous practices are sorting through an unprecedented number of public complaints related to alleged excessive pricing of food products by retailers during the national lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Sussex Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa celebrated its centenary on Wednesday, 6 May.

In order to further support smallholder and communal farmers during the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform (agriculture department) is working on plans to open a second application window for funding.

Numerous KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) farmers have been directly or indirectly involved in donating food and other resources to increasingly poverty-stricken residents in their local communities.

The 2020 pecan nut harvest is currently underway in most of South Africa’s production regions.

While digital auctions are not new to the industry, the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and subsequent ban on ‘open-cry’ auctions, forced role players to search for alternative solutions to preserve the transparent price-making nature of auctions.

The focus of our special Covid-19 pandemic Weekly Wrap podcast series now turns to smallholder and emerging farmers, and the impact of Covid-19, and related restrictions on trade, on these farmers as Farmer’s Weekly speaks to Aggrey Mahanjana, group managing director of the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation.

Small-scale farmers whose applications for relief funding from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) were successful, are expected to start receiving vouchers for agricultural inputs from 8 May.

As promised last week, Farmer’s Weekly is providing free access to its second digital issue, the 8 May issue. This magazine will be on its website from Thursday, 30 April, and features an article on the financial assistance available to farmers affected by COVID-19, as well as an article on macadamia production. It also features an article on how livestock farmers can rebuild their herds and restore their veld, as well as recover financially, after drought. The issue also includes a review of the latest Pannar soya bean varieties, while an Eastern Cape farmer shares his experience of farming Sussex cattle on sourveld in a mountainous part of the province.

Organised agriculture role players have again called for regulations to be revised so that farmers can reinstate rural safety activities such as the patrolling of farming areas.

It is expected that it will take years for South Africa’s craft distillers and brewers to recover from the nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and resultant prohibition on the sale of alcohol.

In this second part of a special two-part edition of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Dr John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz, in an interview with Farmer’s Weekly journalist Sabrina Dean, explains in more detail how the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and related restrictions have affected various farming industries and agribusinesses.

It has been a rough first few months of the year for the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank).

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that South Africa will move to a Level 4 lockdown on Friday, 1 May.

In this special two-part edition of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Farmer’s Weekly journalist Sabrina Dean speaks to Dr John Purchase, CEO Agbiz, about how the COVID-19 lockdown has affected agribusiness and food supply in South Africa.

Farmer’s Weekly has good news for readers who have, during the national lockdown period, been eagerly awaiting the return of the weekly magazine. Even though printing of the magazine had to be further postponed due to the two-week lockdown extension, all readers will now have free access to two digital issues of Farmer’s Weekly magazine. The 1 May issue goes live 24 April and the 8 May issue will be published online on the final day of the lockdown, Thursday, 30 April.