South Africa

Most weather forecasting models indicate the continuation of a strong El Niño episode, causing lower-than-normal chances of rain towards the late-summer season in 2016, according to Cobus Olivier of the South African Weather Service.

The agriculture industry’s water footprint is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future. A responsible footprint will add markedly to water conservation in a dry country such as South Africa, Dr Henry Jordaan, senior lecturer at the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, told Annelie Coleman.

The ANC started 2015 with a call for the expropriation bill to be finalised and implemented to help speed up the land reform process.

A driven hunt in Limpopo caused uproar after M-Net’s Carte Blanche ran an insert about the planned hunt, “with scant regard to providing adequate facts” on the legality of the recognised sport, the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA)said.

Incidences of Citrus Black Spot (CBS) that curbed exports in 2015 showed the true grit of the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) and local citrus growers, who made hard decisions in a seemingly neverending battle with European authorities.

News from the game industry in 2015 was dominated by the record prices paid for so-called colour-variant species and high-value game species.

Leaders in South African agriculture take this opportunity in wishing the farming community a joyous Christmas.

The current drought is sinking its teeth ever deeper into farmers across South Africa and feed is becoming more scarce by the day.

It is not only primary producers who are struggling to survive the drought.

Soccer talent and prowess were evident at the recent Senwes Inter-provincial Soccer Tournament held in Klerksdorp, according to Senwes spokesperson Japie Fransman.

The severe drought across the country took its toll on winter crops and it is clear that this year's wheat harvest will be considerably smaller than the harvests of the previous five years.

The prolonged drought will continue to have a severe impact on the yield, availability and prices of grain and oilseed crops.

A new framework to eliminate rabies has been launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for the Control of Rabies (GARC).

Since the first alpacas were imported into South Africa 15 years ago, they have become increasingly visible among flocks of sheep in the Zastron district of the southern Free State (top right).

South Africa’s table grape growers are expecting a bumper harvest on the back of favourable weather conditions throughout the current growing season and due to well-developed and healthy vineyards.

Station commanders have been informed that part of their operations this festive season would be to do spot checks on firearm safes, according to a press release by Free State Agriculture (FSA).

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has been detected in Limpopo, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has announced.

Growth in the agricultural industry declined by 12,6% in the third quarter of 2015, and agricultural economists fear the sector will struggle to pull itself out of recession in 2016.

The drought has left large parts of North West so dry that the landscape now resembles a desert.

Thanks to infrared video recorders and biotelemetry belts such as those used by athletes, researchers can now know exactly how stressed blue wildebeest can become when they are held in bomas prior to being moved.