South Africa

The increasing demand for water, pollution caused by mining and dysfunctional municipal sewerage systems were some of the main challenges to water quality.

Sideway inflation-related movements in red meat producer prices were expected in 2013, according to the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) chairperson Lardus van Zyl.

The 2011/2012 sugar cane season was disappointing, with drought conditions in many rainfed regions extending into the second consecutive year.

A challenging year lies ahead for the citrus industry with stronger competition from other countries and increasingly strict phytosanitary requirements from Europe.

The US admitted that it was lagging behind the international business community competing for a footing in Africa, Reuters reported.

With the ruling ANC’s Mangaung elective conference starting on Sunday 16 December 2012, the president of Agri SA, Johannes Möller said exceptional leadership was required if the structural problems of the country, were to be addressed.

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has acquired the services of a retired decorated army Major General to oversee the overall anti-poaching operations in the Kruger National Park (KNP).

Engineeringnews.co.za reported that the minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, along with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), recently approved the Aquaculture Development and Enhancement Programme (ADEP).

Sustainability continued to elude those involved in land reform and agriculture, delegates heard at an indaba on Farmer Settlement and Agricultural Sustainability last month at the Durban waterfront.

The Tswelopele community farming project, launched in April 2012 by the Bekker Agricultural High School, Mutual & Federal and Kops Communications & Projects recently had its first commercial harvest and sale.

Farmers’ union TAU SA has long called for farm attacks to be declared priority crimes, a call which seems to have been ignored by the Ministry of Police and the South African Police Service.

The labelling of GM foods could increase food prices by as much as 10%, according to Dr Nompumelelo Obokoh, CEO of AfricaBio. She recently appeared before parliament’s Portfolio Committee for Trade and Industry, to comment on draft amendments to regulations governing the labelling of GM food.

Stock theft has stripped the South African agricultural economy of R430 million during the 2011/2012 period, said the chairman of the National Red Meat Industry Forum (RMIF), Dave Ford.

Helping emerging farmers to reach commercial status was one of the goals of the land reform process

A war of words has erupted between Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) and the Save Mapungubwe Coalition (SMC) that had previously jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)...

Senwes announced a net profit after tax of R187 million for the first six months of the 2012/2013 fiscal year. This represented an increase of 65,5% compared to the R113 million profit for the same time the previous year.

Representatives of organised agriculture have advised farmers to not become worried when workers decide to join unions, but advised them to get well acquainted with what the law stipulated in terms of union activities on farms.

After lengthy discussions following the violent farm worker protests in the Western Cape, Agri SA said that no agreement was reached regarding any minimum wage level.

Farmers in the Western Cape will remain on high alert throughout December. This follows after violent strikes that erupted in November, with protesters demanding higher wages for farm workers.

Irregular expenditure at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) has been exposed, with dumped agricultural equipment and inputs worth over R5 million discovered at the department’s office in Inchanga.