South Africa

The South Africa blueberry industry continues to set record-breaking growth trends, with export volumes for 2019/2020 increasing more than 50% compared with the previous season.

Due to panic-buying by consumers prior to the national lockdown aimed at containing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, South Africa’s red meat industry saw some short-term gains.

South Africans should prepare themselves for heavy rainfall and a preview to the coming winter as a cold front makes its way across the central and south-eastern parts of the country over the next few days.

Agricultural companies and entities in South Africa and other parts of the world are repurposing parts of their operations to manufacture products to bolster the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Agricultural commodities have, for the most part, come off lightly amid worldwide supply chain disruptions as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic.

The South African agriculture sector forms the backbone of South Africa’s economy, but this fact has been largely ignored by government.

Opportunities exist for farmers and agro-processors to enter the small, but growing paprika market in South Africa.

It is still uncertain how the lockdown for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and depreciation of the rand will impact farm input prices.

In this first episode of our special coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic podcast series, Farmer’s Weekly editor, Denene Erasmus, gives an update on how the publication has adapted to keep readers up to date with news and information relevant to the sector, and the public at large, during this critical period.

Investing in research and marketing for the dragon fruit industry is needed for this sector to realise its potential in terms of job creation and offering a feasible investment for small-scale farmers.

South Africa’s wine industry will be allowed to export finished goods, both packaged and bulk, during the remainder of the lockdown period which was aimed at containing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The deaths of nine farmworkers in a road accident on the N1 between Touws River and De Doorns have sent shockwaves through the agricultural community.

Over the past week, Western Cape farmers have donated tons of fresh produce to FoodForward SA, a non-profit organisation assisting communities experiencing food shortages during the lockdown for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic.

If it spreads further afield, the African armyworm [Spodoptera exempta (Walker)] outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Nkandla and Msinga areas could be the final nail in the coffin for many livestock farmers in the province.

For the foreseeable future, South African garlic lovers will have to accept dramatically increased prices for their favourite food flavouring until delays in international logistics are smoothed out.

Disaster relief support for the Northern Cape has ground to a halt since the lockdown for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic came into effect.

Smallholder and communal farmers with an annual turnover of between R20 000 and R1 million will be able to apply for financial support grants from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) from Wednesday, 8 April.

South Africa’s top dairy products were recently honoured at the Agri-Expo Qualité Awards, which this year took the form of a virtual ceremony held as part of the South African Dairy Championships.

South Africa is forecast to increase raisin exports by 8% to 64 600t in the 2019/2020 marketing year, up from 59 000t in 2018/2019, based on the increase in production and improved global demand, according to Ferdie Botha, general manager at Raisins South Africa.

South Africa’s national lockdown aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic is already taking its toll on farmers.