South Africa

Gift of the Givers, Boere in Nood, and Save the Sheep Sutherland have joined forces to procure fodder for 34 drought-stricken districts in the Karoo and southern Cape, where some farms have received hardly any rain over the past four years.

The Crop Estimate’s Committee (CEC) has left its forecast for maize unchanged but expects South Africa’s wheat production to increase by nearly 18% from last season’s harvest.

Blueberry production in South Africa is increasing at a faster rate than previously anticipated, according to a recent Absa Agribusiness Outlook report.

The recent lifting of an 11-year ban on imports of avocados from Kenya is not expected to negatively impact South Africa’s avocado industry.

The grain industry must be concerned about possible endocrine-disruptive chemicals in pesticides and insecticides, says Prof Riana Bornman from the department of urology at the University of Pretoria.

The ongoing heatwaves in Russia, Australia and the EU are bound to negatively affect wheat production in those countries.

Commercial farming will not be disrupted, land grabs will not be tolerated and food security will not be jeopardised by the ANC’s campaign to accelerate land reform.

A representative for organised agriculture who attended one of two meetings with top-level ANC officials said the engagement was critical in light of the current vacuum in which uncertainty was prevailing.

South Africa’s recent ban on imports of non-irradiated honey from Zambia has been described as a “good thing” by the chairperson of the SA Bee Industry Organisation (SABIO), Mike Miles.

Representatives from Agri SA and Agbiz were scheduled to meet with top ANC officials on Tuesday, 21 August, in what has been termed a series of many meetings yet to come.

Grain SA has welcomed a decision against the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) not to implement a transport differential for soy beans in SA.

South Africa has to explore North African and Middle Eastern markets, which will grow exponentially in the next decade. Those countries do not have the capacity to grow their own food, according to Dr Holger Matthey, an economist in trade and markets at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

While South Africa was creating jobs and achieving some economic growth, these processes were not happening fast enough to keep up with the rate at which the population was growing and people were entering the job market.

South Africans were on average 25% poorer today than we were seven years ago, according to Agbiz CEO Dr John Purchase, speaking at the annual Free State Agriculture Congress in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Multinational chemical company BASF has concluded its €7,6 billion (R123 billion) all-cash acquisition of various businesses and assets of global life sciences and agriculture company Bayer.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has confirmed that the list containing the names of 195 farms allegedly earmarked for expropriation without compensation is fake.

South Africa’s grasslands are threatened by the encroachment of bankrupt bush (Seriphium plumosum), according to Dan’sile Cindi, deputy director: Ecological Infrastructure at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).

Weather forecasts indicate that there was a more than 50% chance of another El Niño event occurring in the coming season, which could result in drought conditions, according to a recent Absa Agricultural Outlook report.

The Fresh Connections: Southern Africa Conference and Trade Show 2018 will include a special focus on identifying growth opportunities in China.

As the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ 2018 Female Entrepreneur Awards competition draws to a close later this month, last year’s national winner has urged candidates to share their success with their communities.