South Africa

Suppliers of canning fruit to Langeberg and Ashton Foods have been placed in an impossible position after Tiger Brands gave them less than 60 days to come up with more than R200 million to prevent the closure of the factory.

Senior officials of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and Agri SA were planning to meet soon to discuss the non-payment of critical service providers in the midst of the worst locust outbreak of the past 25 years.

The Ankole Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa’s national auction on 18 June raked in more than R21 million in total for the 80 lots on offer.

Despite the cold weather being welcomed by Western Cape grain and fruit farmers, livestock producers have been urged to keep their animals warm as the temperature continues to drop.

Farmers speaking to politicians about stock theft, rather than reporting it to the South African Police Service (SAPS), is not helping the fight against rural crime. This was according to Willie Clack, chairperson of the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum, who was responding to calls for stronger action against stock thieves.

The rising unemployment rate, surging inflation and dissatisfaction with government are resulting in an increase in riots, especially those that turn violent. Speaking at the recent Mpumalanga Agriculture annual congress held in White River, political analyst Dr Frans Cronjé discussed the results of a study, which showed that support for the ANC was stagnating on the back of failing service delivery.

Rising input costs, biosecurity concerns, interest rate hikes, intensified geopolitical risks and ongoing weakness in municipal service delivery are taking their toll on agribusinesses, according to the Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index released on 13 June.

Plum production has become economically unviable with the majority of farmers suffering a loss over the past two seasons.

The World Bank has lowered its expectation of global economic growth for a third time since October, which bodes ill for South African farmers, according to Marlene Louw, senior agricultural economist at Absa AgriBusiness.

While organic fruit farming and the demand for organic produce have been growing steadily around the world, South African producers have been slow to adopt this style of production.

The bull BBM 16 96 set a new South African record for a Bonsmara when he was sold for R2,1 million at the recent Poggenpoel Molopo Bonsmara Production Sale.

The extension of the temporary relief of R1,50/l on the fuel levy by government to try and ease the pressure on South Africans following fuel price increases on Wednesday (1 June), has been widely welcomed.

The employment figures for the first quarter of 2022 announced by Statistics South Africa in its Quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) on Monday (30 May) highlighted the importance of the agriculture sector as an employer in South Africa.

Following years of struggles, South African producers again started exporting citrus through the Port of Maputo in Mozambique in May.

The Auction of the National Limousin Champions was held on Water’s Edge farm on 21 May.

This season, South Africa is expected to harvest its largest soya bean crop on record, due to an expansion in area plantings and favourable rainfall in the eastern part of the country, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at Agbiz.

The sluggish reaction of government to the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in North West has been a serious impediment in the race to contain and prevent the disease from spreading further afield.

Blueberry producers are facing delays in their return on investment as global prices of the fruit decrease.

South Africa has the potential to position itself as a global player on the global cannabis market. This was according to Stephen Murphy, CEO of Prohibition Partners, speaking during an online media briefing hosted by the European Delegation to South Africa.

About 73 000 visitors attended Nampo Harvest Day 2022, held from 16 to 20 May, despite negative publicity about strict COVID-19 regulations, high fuel prices, and poor road conditions. This was according to Toit Wessels, Grain SA’s assistant manager for marketing and Nampo.