South Africa

Hunters in South Africa, and especially in KwaZulu-Natal, are urging provincial conservation organisation, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, to prioritise permanently filling the post of Manager: Hunting and Permits within the organisation with a competent and experienced person.

Monsanto’s Dekalb maize has reached the 100 year mark, making it one of the oldest agricultural products in South Africa.

Organisers of the Royal Show 2012 announced that this year’s event will boast an impressive line-up in the ever-popular agricultural section.

Recently gazetted norms and standards for white rhino hunting in South Africa have, in the main, been welcomed by the country’s hunting industry.

Many say prices in the booming game industry are out of control – and then there’s the ‘colouration issue’.

Agricultural input and services companies in KwaZulu-Natal have expressed frustration at the way in which tender processes are implemented by the KZN Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs.

Illovo’s Umzimkulu sugar mill, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, is due to reopen after a year-long closure.

The two-week long strike at six agricultural companies and co-operatives has recently ended with wage increase compromises reached between employers and employees’ labour unions.

Illegal and improperly supervised sand winning in KwaZulu-Natal’s rivers is continuing unchecked and is having an adverse effect on river health and water quality.

The relief of Free State farmers over long-awaited rain was short-lived after the showers were followed by frost recently.

Over 3 000 chickens had to be slaughtered at a broiler government project in Mpumalanga as the chickens resorted to cannibalism after being without food for five days.

Farmers should brace themselves for a hefty hike in water tariffs next year. The increase will help foot the bill of a massive budget shortfall for the upkeep and development of water resource infrastructure.

A new record for the sale of a game species was set at the Piet du Toit Game Breeders Auction on 13 April, where Jaco Troskie bid R20 million for the buffalo cow, Tanzania, and its four-month-old heifer calf.

Maize producers are concerned about the effect of a relatively new computerised commodity trading practice known as ‘flash trading’ and its effect on grain markets.

The African Horse Sickness Trust has dismissed a claim by DA spokesperson for agriculture, Annette Steyn, that vaccines produced by state-run Onderstepoort Biological Products, (OBP) for the deadly African horse sickness (AHS), are ineffective.

Commercially farmed honeybee colonies play a crucial role the pollination of fruit crops in the Western Cape.

Professor of Political Sciences at UNISA, Dirk Kotzé, who was a speaker at the Bien Donné Agri Cape Week in Paarl, criticised the Green Paper on Land Reform for having too little substance.

Guava producers in the Western Cape are looking forward to a better year after difficult weather conditions during 2011 caused massive crop losses.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) does not have the money to implement the suggestions in the Green Paper on Land Reform.

A two weeks strike action at six agricultural companies and co-ops has ended with compromise being reached between strikers and their employers.