South Africa

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.

Lindi van Rooyen, Johannesburg-based reporter for Farmer’s Weekly, has been named one of 10 Young Leaders in agricultural writing.