South Africa

The South African Apple and Pear Producers’ Organisation (SAAPPA) anticipates a normal pome fruit season despite drought conditions affecting certain production areas, according to a SAAPPA press release.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has announced that it will be approving products to be used against fall armyworm from this week.

The quality of poultry being exported from the EU to South Africa is the same quality as the poultry produced and sold in Europe, Bloomberg reported Marcus Cornaro, EU ambassador to SA, as saying.

A mobile application that acts as an information platform for South African smallholder farmers, has been launched by Vodacom, in partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Manstrat Agricultural Intelligence Solutions.

The 2017 Cape Premier Yearling Sale, recently held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, had a record turn over of R155 225 000.

Recent reports of suspected Fall Armyworm (FAW) outbreaks in the Limpopo and North West areas has been confirmed by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) on Friday.

Industry leaders agree that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, demonstrates a healthy interest in agricultural matters, but is not particularly proficient in implementing policies for the sector.

Extensive damage by an as yet unidentified pest caterpillar, suspected to be fall armyworm (FAW), has been reported on sweet corn and white maize planted for seed production in South Africa, while reports of similar damage has also been received from Namibia.

Fruit South Africa (Fruit SA) has partnered with The Great Fruit Adventure to promote awareness of the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly amongst children.

National farmers’ union, Agri SA, has said that it supports any discussions aimed at reviewing the growing threat posed by armyworm invasions in Southern Africa.

The Stilbaai and Riversdale farming communities are faced with a grazing crisis following a veld fire that affected almost 40 farms in the region.

Research on conservation planting and farming methods by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture will in future be considerably easier, thanks to the donation of a disc planter.

Slightly more rain than normal can be expected in South Africa’s summer rainfall area for the remainder of the 2016/17 summer season.

South Africa’s table grape crop is likely to be 1% to 2% larger than the first 2016/2017 crop estimate, according to the South African Table Grape Industry (SATGI).

Tru-Cape Fruit, the largest marketer of South African apples and pears, will open its Heritage Orchard of historic apple and pear trees to the public for a guided tour on Saturday, 4 February.

Omri van Zyl, Agri SA’s executive director, was elected president of the World Farmers' Organisation’s (WFO) audit board in Rome, Italy, at a WFO meeting earlier this week.

The drought still dominates wine production in South Africa and may yet have a significant impact on the 2017 vintage.

South Africa needs to manage agricultural produce trade agreements with the UK carefully after Brexit, as the country is but one of many competing for UK markets, says agri-economist Dr Johan Willemse.

There are strong suspicions that the recent mislabelling of citrus being sold in Spain as having originated from South Africa, was a malicious action designed to fuel the current dispute between the two countries’ citrus sectors, according to the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA).

Grain SA called on grain farmers to be on the alert for possible outbreaks of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), with possible incidence of this pest already reported in different areas of Limpopo, North West and the Free State.