South Africa

Government’s urgency to implement agri-parks across the country will make the process very vulnerable to corruption and abuse by contactors, said the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa).

The recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the Northern Communal Areas (NCA) of Namibia were well controlled and do not pose a danger to the commercial farming areas to the south, according to Mecki Schneider, Namibian Livestock Producers chairperson.

A study launched by the Water Research Commission (WRC) has found that a clear policy needs to be drawn up if South Africa intends to establish a successful inland fisheries industry.

Predation damage in SA’s game and livestock industries amounted to R383 142 807/year, said Prof HO de Waal from the Free State University.

Farmer's Weekly news editor Jaco Visser spoke to OFM's agri-editor Sabrina Dean about the top articles in the 29 May issue of Farmer's Weekly:

A fruit farmer from the Koue Bokkeveld, Carl van der Merwe, was named the Western Cape Young Farmer of the Year.

Farmers should avoid the risk of placing too much emphasis on economic and global issues they have little or no control over, according to Nico Groenewald, Standard Bank’s head of agribusiness.

Stock theft figures in South Africa might currently be underestimated by four times if University of the Free State (UFS) research is accurate.

There is no proof that the chemical glyphosate caused cancer in humans and animals under normal veld conditions, according to Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, head of the Griffon Poison Information Centre.

Land reform is the top news maker this week, after Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti made a surprise announcement that government is considering lowering the land cap from 12 000ha to 5 000ha.

The Israelis are hosting an agribusiness seminar in East London today a day after meeting Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane about a possible partnership to develop agriculture in the province.

Farmer’s Weekly journalist, Lloyd Phillips, recently attended the 96th AGM of the Kamberg Valley Association in KwaZulu-Natal.

In response to an enquiry from Forestry South Africa (FSA), the Department of Labour (DoL) has confirmed that the new minimum wages for workers in the country’s commercial forestry sector are based on a nine-hour working day.

While Afasa and Nerpo agreed with Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Gugile Nkwinti’s land ceiling of 5 000ha, stakeholders needed to be engaged further on the matter as there were still “more questions than answers”, the two organisations said during a media breakfast in Pretoria today (18 May).

The ANC wants land reform to fail as part of its plot to gain state control over all land. And agriculture minister Senzeni Zokwana, is misleading farmers, playing a game of cat and mouse, when he tells them not to worry about the radical plans put forward by land reform minister Gugile Nkwinti.

Where in South Africa have you eaten your best steak? Which steakhouse serves the juiciest char-grilled beef?

The lack of trust between role players in agriculture came to the fore during a Nation in Conversation session at Nampo 2015.

The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti announced during his budget speech that government plans to halve its 12 000ha cap on land ownership.

More than 650 exhibitors will attend Grain SA’s Nampo Harvest Day, to be held between 12 and 15 May outside Bothaville in the Free State.

Egg consumption has continued to grow in South Africa, with prices fairly stable in the formal sector, despite considerable cost pressure, according to David Allwright, managing director of The Free Range Chicken Company.