South Africa

KwaDukuza Municipality on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast intended to expropriate 24 properties in Darnall and the Nonoti-Fort Pearson area to build houses for two housing developments.

The reactions of farmers, unions and farm workers to the announcement that the minimum daily wage for farm workers will increase from R69/ day to R105/day from 1 March suggests there are no real winners in the recent wage negotiations.

The recent weakening of the rand against important international currencies was likely to result in a dip in national agricultural machinery sales.

The flooding of the Limpopo River basin had claimed the lives of about 70 people and displaced an estimated 180 000 by the end of January.

The retail petrol price jumped 41c/l and the wholesale diesel price by 17,8c/ l on 6 February, mainly because of a weaker rand and higher global oil prices.

The Eastern Cape Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (EC RPO) believed that the legalising of dog racing will put the brakes on the increasing problem of vagrant dogs killing and maiming livestock.

“Politicians saying stupid things are simply not good for the economy,” said economist Dawie Roodt.

The new minimum wage for farm workers, which will come into effect for one year on 1 March 2013, has been increased from R69 per day to R105 per day for employees who work nine hours a day.

The recent heavy rains in Mpumalanga, along with high temperatures, caused the ideal conditions for blue ticks that cause redwater disease to thrive.

Farm worker strikes for a higher minimum wage in the Western Cape might be over, but farmers say the effect will linger for some time to come. Denene Erasmus reports.

Farmers in the summer grain regions were battling to get gerbil infestations in their lands under control, with about 5% of their maize crops destroyed.

In the first month of the year no less than 57 rhino have already been killed by poachers in SA, with the Kruger National Park bearing the brunt of the onslaught.

Astral Foods has recorded its worst trading performance in its history as a JSE listed entity.

Wild fires in the Western Cape’s Boland region have damaged large areas of mountain fynbos, but farmers in the Wemmershoek area near Franschhoek, where the fire originated, reported few losses.

A farm manager was shot and killed on Monday 28 January 2013 in another farm attack in the Bapsfontein area in Gauteng.

Farmers must increase their own safety and security measures on farm level. This was the message following a meeting between the Graskop Farmers Association in Villiers, Free State Agriculture (FSA) and the SAPS after the spate of farm attacks in the province so far this year.

The recently reported discovery of dangerous cholera, salmonella and E. coli bacteria in the floodwaters and soils of Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape has, once again...

Outbreaks of African horse sickness (AHS) have been reported in various parts of the country and horse breeders have been warned the situation remains critical. Lourens Schoeman reports.

At the first public meeting of the new Farm Worker Forum, nearly 1 000 farm workers gathered to condemn the recent violent strikes and the union leaders claiming to represent workers. Denene Erasmus reports.

Zimbabwean commercial farmers whose farms were taken under President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reform programme were seeking dialogue with the government to revive the country’s struggling agricultural sector.