South Africa

Fortified sorghum is one step closer to becoming a reality after Du Pont Pioneer overcame a critical obstacle in the development phase by enhancing pro-vitamin A stability in the grain.

The expansion of Clover’s Queensburgh production and distribution facility in KwaZulu-Natal will signal a greater demand for milk from farmers.

Two pieces of pending legislation could together result in the expropriation of commercial farming operations with zero compensation.

The International Food and Agribusiness Management Forum (IFAMA) World Forum will be held held at the Cape Town Convention Centre in Cape Town from 17-19 June 2014.

At around 8.30pm on 19 February, a truck carrying workers from the farm High Fountain to Wellington crashed on Haaskraalpad. One person died on the scene.

Price pressures over the past five years have hampered new plantings of potato crops, resulting in a decrease of 1 200ha during the 2014 production season.

AfriForum has challenged the minister of water affairs, Edna Molewa, to appoint a Blue Scorpion task team to assist it in its criminal case in which the Madibeng Municipality is accused of negligent water management.

A wine auction in aid of education will be held in Cape Town from 14-15 March.

The Milk Producers Organisation (MPO) is concerned over the negative publicity the dairy industry was receiving as a result of the failed R570-million Free State dairy project.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) has revealed that several poultry abattoirs have at one time or another been negatively affected by municipal water supply or quality problems.

Plans are underway to increase the efficiency of extension services, expand veterinary services through compulsory community service and deploy mobile veterinary clinics in order to maintain South Africa’s newly acquired foot-and-mouth disease-free status.

Police in Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, have been criticised for their slow response to a call for help from a 74-year-old woman on Houtkop Farm on 15 February.

A total of 1,3 billion people are still without access to electricity, according to the World Energy Issues Monitor 2014.

France’s senate has rejected a move by the government to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) maize.

The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs has given interested and affected parties 30 days to comment on sections of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004.

South Africa’s multi-billion rand red meat industry is ecstatic at news that the country has had its foot-and-mouth disease-free status reinstated.

Agbiz has called on agribusiness decision-makers to participate in this year’s Agribusiness Executive Opinion Survey.

The African Farmers Association of South Africa (Afasa) has queried the ‘success’ of the land reform programme, saying that President Zuma’s figures are inaccurate.

Companies in the fibre, processing and manufacturing (FP&M) sub-sectors, including forestry, leather, pulp and paper, and wood products, registered with the FP&M Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) have until 30 April 2014 to submit applications for mandatory grants for the financial year 2014/15.

Foresters and other land managers in SA can update their knowledge and skills on fighting wildfires with the newly released second edition of the Fire Manager’s Handbook on Veld and Forest Fires.