South Africa

African horse sickness (AHS) cases are increasing in Gauteng while vaccines have been unavailable since last year, according to reports. Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), which is responsible for manufacturing the vaccines, has allegedly been without stock for several months.

Industry stakeholders have expressed concern over the lack of tenure security provided for in a new bill on communal land.

South Africa is set to deliver another bumper crop of macadamia nuts this year, surpassing last year’s total yield of 68 840t dry-nut-in-shell at 1,5% moisture, to reach nearly 78 000t.

The Western Cape recently became the first province to formally launch a Cannabis Framework and Implementation Plan (CanPlan) for the agriculture sector.

The latest grain crop estimate released by the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) shows an increase in yields for most grain crops in South Africa, alleviating fears that erratic weather would have curtailed the harvest. This means South Africa will have sufficient staple food supplies in the 2023/24 marketing year.

The Competition Commission (CompCom) recently launched the Fresh Produce Market Inquiry to identify features that could impede, distort or restrict competition along the fresh produce value chain.

The shortage of snakebite antivenom in South Africa was a source of serious concern as this threatened the lives of animals and humans, according to Johan Marais, CEO of the African Snakebite Institute.

Red meat production has once again come under fire, this time in a study detailing a pathway for South Africa to achieve its goal of achieving net-zero carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 2050.

The lack of regulations over terminology for alternative protein products is causing confusion about food labels worldwide and has already led to several court cases in South Africa.

Twenty-six percent of the world’s population still does not have access to safe drinking water, while 46% lack access to basic sanitation, according to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2023, released on Tuesday ahead of the United Nations Water Conference, which started in New York today.

Retail prices for ginger have sunk as low as R30/kg as ample rains have diminished quality and larger volumes flow into the market.

Advances in gene sequencing are uncovering a wealth of information that will have far-reaching consequences for stable, ongoing food production.

The Land Expropriation Bill will not be used “willy-nilly”, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently said in response to questions in the National Assembly.

Agriculture’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks was highlighted at the Africa Agri Tech conference in Pretoria this week. Billy Petzer, researcher of cyber security systems at the CSIR said, if risks were not mitigated, food supply could be heavily impacted.

The Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index has dropped five points to 44 in the first quarter of 2023, taking it to its lowest level since the second quarter of 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions were first implemented.

The time had come for all role players in the South African grain production sector to re-evaluate their relevance and to co-operate in good faith. This was according to Derek Mathews, who was unanimously re-elected as chairperson of Grain SA (GSA) during the organisation’s 2023 congress.

North West Premier Bushy Maape announced in his recent State of the Province address that a multibillion- rand routine road maintenance plan was to be rolled out in all four districts of the province.

Themba Rikhotso has been appointed as the new CEO of Land Bank, effective from 1 April. He takes over from Khensani Mukhari, who in May last year was appointed as acting CEO, following the resignation of Ayanda Kanana, who served in the position for two years.

The decrease in employment in the agriculture sector in the fourth quarter of 2022 (Q4 2022) was cause for serious concern, according to Johan Wege, chair of Agri SA’s Centre of Excellence: Labour.

The outlook for pome fruit this season is still uncertain, with various factors threatening the financial viability of producers, according to Roelf Pienaar, managing director of Tru-Cape. Pienaar was speaking during a virtual meeting on the forecast for the year ahead.