South Africa

Grain SA chairperson Derek Mathews has welcomed the appointment of Dr Tobias Doyer as chief executive officer of the organisation, describing him as the ideal choice.

The agriculture sector in South Africa continues to show its strength creating 61 000 new jobs in the third quarter of 2023.

Various articles were published in the media over the past week that made it sound as if government had published “new rules” in the Government Gazette that would force farmers to meet black economic empowerment (BEE) requirements to continue exports to Europe.

In spite of the limiting impact of the ever-decreasing national vineyard surface area, isolated cases of frost and extensive flood damage in some regions, the wine industry is optimistic about the new season’s potential, according to Rico Basson, CEO of South African Wine.

Sheep farmers are at their wits end as damage caused by warthogs is threatening their livelihoods.

The South African Poultry Association (SA Poultry) recently voiced its concern over a suggested temporary rebate provision on broiler meat.

Free State Agriculture (FSA), in collaboration with LGV’s PSiRA-registered Private Stock Theft Investigators, has retrieved more than a million rands’ worth of livestock since FSA announced its Private Livestock Theft Investigators initiative four months ago. Fourteen arrests in six cases of stock theft followed.

More than 600 KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) cannabis and hemp farmers were granted permits to cultivate, store and transport the product with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of not more than 0,2%.

The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) brought little good news when it was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

The South African Weather Service (Weather SA) has advised farmers to keep their animals safe from the bitter cold, wet and windy conditions that started on Saturday and are expected to last until Wednesday in parts of the Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo and Northern Cape.

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development does not have funds to compensate farmers for their losses as a result of the deadly avian influenza outbreak across South Africa, according to the department's chief director Dipepeneneng Serage, who was responding to questions posed by the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development this week.

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) continues to sweep through South Africa, with the latest wave annihilating colonies in Gauteng.

Whereas inflation is slowing in many countries, the depreciation of the rand, high fuel costs and load-shedding are keeping it high in South Africa.

In a historic moment, the Nguni bull, T16 232, was recently sold for a world-record price of R570 000 at the Sentrale Nguni Club’s 29th auction held on the farm Middelwater near Bloemfontein.

The current cost of potatoes and onions have left South African consumers reeling, with a 7kg pocket of potatoes costing at least 100% more now than it did a year ago, while a 10kg bag of onions was 63% higher year-on-year (y/y).

North-West University’s School of Geo and Spatial Sciences recently hosted a seminar during which 16 groups of BSC Agriculture final-year students at the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management presented their research projects.

The adoption of a framework calling for highly hazardous pesticides in the agriculture sector to be phased out has been lauded by South African Minister for Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Barbara Creecy.

India’s leading tractor exporter in the 16HP to 125HP segments, International Tractors Limited (ITL), recently unveiled improvements and expansions in its existing models, along with two whole new categories, at its Global Partners Summit 200 in Gurugram, India.

World Food Day is celebrated under a cloud of water troubles as the increasing incidence of both droughts and floods impacts food security.

In his opening address at the Agri SA congress, re-elected President Jaco Minnaar emphasised the importance of improving and enhancing all factors impacting food security.