South Africa

The revised Expropriation Bill of 2015 has been released and poses a major threat to private property rights.

Grain producers must form partnerships with government to ensure long-term sustainable and profitable food production in South Africa, Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana told the 2015 Grain SA congress in Bothaville today.

The Eastern Cape’s emerging chicory farmers have received a shot in the arm when the provincial government supplied them with seeds, fertilisers and insecticides to the value of R400 000.

A group of 58 SA farmers has won a class action lawsuit against multinational energy and chemical giant Sasol.

South Africa’s maize crop will probably be 32% smaller at 9,66 million tons than last year’s harvest, according to the Crop Estimates Committee’s first forecast for the season.

Presenting the 2015 budget in Parliament on 25 February, finance minister Nhlanhla Nene said that South Africa’s GDP growth forecast for 2015 has been reduced from 2,5% to 2%, but according to economists even a 2% growth rate might not be feasible.

Agriculture was singled out as one of the nine “strategic priorities” to be pursued this year when it comes to ensuring economic growth and job creation, according to finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in his 2015 budget speech.

Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene has great expectations for agriculture. In the 2015 budget speech delivered in Parliament today (25 February), the farming sector was one of nine he singled out as “strategic priorities” in a bid by government to speed up economic growth and employment creation.

Dr Theo de Jager, head of the Pan African Farmers’ Organisation (Pafo), will be chairing a roundtable discussion at the UN’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) project’s annual meeting being held in Rome today (25 February).

The Agri-Sector Unity Forum (ASUF) wants an urgent meeting to discuss “burning issues” with minister of agriculture Senzeni Zokwana.

The current drought in the central and western parts of the summer grain production region in SA has had a devastating impact on crops in the Free State.

During a recent interview with Farmer’s Weekly, agriculture minister Senzeni Zokwana called on farmers to approach their unions and engage with government about the proposed 12 000 ha land ceiling.

Contagious abortion (CA), or brucellosis, caused by the bacteria Brucella abortus, is widespread in South Africa, infecting more than 10% of the dairy herd, according to Dr Jan du Preez of the MPO’s Dairy Technology Institute.

During an interview with Farmer’s Weekly, agriculture minister Senzeni Zokwana responded to questions posted by our readers on the publication’s Facebook page.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) was reportedly on a drive to eventually have conservation agriculture (CA) implemented as mainstream practice at all scales of SA crop farming.

Agriculture minister, Senzeni Zokwana, spoke to Farmer's Weekly after President Jacob Zuma delivered his State of the Nation address in Parliament.

Prof Dorian Garrick, from the Iowa State University in the US, will be the keynote speaker at the 2015 Voermol/SA Stud Book Breeder’s Symposium in Bloemfontein on 29 April.

The message President Jacob Zuma sent out last night (12 February) during the State of the Nation address (SONA) with his announcement that new proposed laws would place a 12 000ha cap on land ownership, was that he did not understand how modern agriculture worked.

State of the Nation Address by His Excellency Jacob G Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa on the occasion of the Joint Sitting Of Parliament Cape Town...

When delivering the State of the Nation address today, President Jacob Zuma needed to foster confidence in the local economy.