South Africa

Having to counteract the effects of high input costs and decreased milk prices means South Africa’s dairy farmers face a difficult 12 months

According to the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union’s recent audit, almost 49% of agricultural land in the province is in black hands. Robyn Joubert reports.

A rapidly growing world population and increasing demand for more protein and fresh products from India, China and some African countries should help to ensure good returns for farmers for decades to come, according to First National Bank’s head of agriculture, Francois Marais.

The Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Gill Marcus has left the interest rate unchanged.

The Department of Mineral Resources has published the complete report on the proposed hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo on its website.

South Africa dropped two places in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) – from 50th to 52nd out of 144 countries surveyed.

Kommadagga, Adelaide and Fort Beaufort are currently the main stock theft hotspots in the Eastern Cape.

Farmers tend to find a catastrophe in everything and ‘over-react’ to irresponsible comments from certain quarters, Eastern Cape RPO (ECRPO)chairperson Dr Pieter Prinsloo told delegates at the organisation’s AGM held outside Middelburg recently.

Agri SA expressed its shock at the death of three of its members in an aircraft accident in the Cato Ridge area near Pietermaritzburg.

The recently suspended director-general (DG) of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Langa Zita, could receive a multimillion rand golden handshake.

Mineral Resources minister Susan Shabangu believes that farmers in general are “very excited” about the lifting of a moratorium on shale gas exploration in the Karoo, because this would eventually give them access to cheaper electricity.

Efforts to address the ongoing poaching of South Africa’s rhinos will be stepped up when a memorandum of understanding is signed with the Vietnam government in October.