South Africa

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has welcomed a commitment by Public Protector (PP) Busisiwe Mkwhebane to take a closer look at the involvement of politicians in the Vrede dairy farm scandal.

Zeder Investments Limited has experienced a tough financial year, with its sum-of-parts value per share decreasing 8% to R7,85, and total underlying investment portfolio declining from R15,2 billion to R14,2 billion for the period ended 28 February 2018, the company has announced in a statement.

It is believed that large-scale purchases by the South African government were what contributed to the dramatic increase in the country’s tractor sales during March 2018.

Red meat prices in South Africa have increased at the highest rate of all food products year-on-year, despite a marked slowdown in food inflation, according to a statement by Statistics SA.

Money intended to establish a Veterinary Science Faculty at The University of Fort Hare (UFH) in Alice in the Eastern Cape could be better spent on Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), or the Faculty of Veterinary Science (Onderstepoort) at the University of Pretoria.

The North West Department of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development (READ) has alerted farmers about a possible outbreak of fall armyworm (FAW) in the province.

Northern Cape farmers in drought affected districts of the province were overjoyed to finally start receiving financial aid from government to help them weather the dry times.

The Free State Agriculture (FSA) safety and security mobile app, ‘Die Plaaswag (The Farm Watch)’ has already been downloaded by hundreds of users since its launch last month, according to FSA safety and risk analyst Dr Jane Buys.

Members of the Overberg branch of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) have donated 480t of feed to farmers in drought-stricken Sutherland in the Northern Cape, said a SA Hunters spokesperson.

In the second stage of the XTractor Around The World expedition, four of the latest generation McCormick tractors will cover 6 000km of South Africa’s toughest terrain in 48 days.

Wildlife Ranching South Africa (WRSA) has elected Tebogo Mogashoa as its new president at the association’s annual general meeting held in Polokwane recently.

Syngenta recently launched its 6th annual Grain Academy Programme. The ceremony was held at the Arabella Country Estate in Kleinmond.

A commercial farmer in the Free State, Eddie Prinsloo (63), is empowering his farmworkers through a land ownership initiative in which he sold a 1 500ha farm to the government on condition that his farmworkers be joint owners of the farm.

Although fuel prices are expected to decrease early in April 2018, any benefits that this may have had on consumer pockets, including those of farmers, will be cancelled out by increased government fuel levies.

A farmer-led committee in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District in the Free State has pledged to ensure that seven new Case tractors handed over by government to local developing farmers on March 23 would be utilised effectively.

All 41 809 Swakara pelts on offer from Namibia were sold at the annual Kopenhagen Fur auction, held last week in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to the Namibian Agricultural Union.

There was growing concern about the water crisis in the Western Cape as dam levels continued to decline.

Producers have a responsibility to reverse past mistakes made in agriculture, according to Grain SA conservation agriculture (CA) facilitator, Dr Hendrik Smith.

Genetics was a tool that should be used by the South African wildlife industry in the same way it was used in the livestock industry, according to Dr Munro Marx, head of Unistel Medical Laboratories.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) has announced plans to establish a trust that would be tasked with revitalising several urban farming initiatives that had become unsustainable over the years.