South Africa

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.

Afasa is concerned that politicians allegedly do not invite them to be part of key development programmes for farmers but only reach out to them when it’s time to launch the projects.

One of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, Nestlé, has cut the added sugar content in its long-popular brand, Nesquik.

Coffee drinkers who savour their daily caffeine fix may have to find substitutes as climate change has already had a “substantial impact” on coffee production.

Illegal netting will soon be a thing of the past at Vaalkop Dam in North West.

The 14 April 2015 murder of an Eastern Cape farmer brought the total number of farm murders in South Africa to 19 so far this year.

Young farmers from across the country gathered in Midrand on Wednesday to touch base with fellow farmers and to gather information on issues impacting on their businesses.

A surprise result in the South African Dairy Championships saw a frozen yoghurt scoop top honours from all cheeses, butters, ice creams and milk to be named the 2015 South African Dairy Product of the Year.

Eastern Cape farmers on Tuesday received genetic-improving livestock from MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Mlibo Qoboshiyane as part of the department’s livestock production improvement scheme.

The weather is currently top of mind for farmers in SA. KwaZulu-Natal has had a dry summer and a hard winter is predicted, Farmer’s Weekly news editor Jaco Visser told OFM's agri-editor, Sabrina Dean.