South Africa

A Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap for Agriculture, being developed by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is expected to be completed by end-September 2026.

While South Africa’s agriculture sector may not have featured explicitly in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) delivered on Wednesday, leading economists say some reforms and policy shifts outlined in the speech point to meaningful indirect gains for the sector.

This year has been a defining one for South Africa’s macadamia industry, according to Shane Hartman, CEO of Global Macadamias.

Sugar imports into South Africa surged by more than 400% between January and August 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, affecting local sales and rural livelihoods.

Adding indigenous crops and medicinal plants to the list of declared agricultural products could formalise and unlock the potential of industries currently valued at around R12 billion a year.

Digital fatigue has far-reaching consequences for marketers. With consumers’ increasingly limited attention spans and less variation in consumed media, marketing campaigns have fewer opportunities to capture interest.

As a historic event for South Africa, the 2025 G20 Summit offers an opportunity to advance the country’s interests and those of the rest of Africa.

By choosing to take short cuts in post-harvest on-farm cooling, table grape producers are effectively choosing to compromise the quality of their product upon arrival in export markets.

South Africa is positioning its honey industry for expansion into international export markets, with Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen confirming that work is under way to meet the EU’s honey import standards.

AgriSA has launched a real-time locust tracking platform to help monitor and manage outbreaks of the pest across South Africa.

Rising global demand for avocados is opening new frontiers for South African exports, but sustained growth will depend on quality, consumer education, and agile marketing rather than just improved market access.

Red Meat Industry Services officially launched Phase 2 of its Traceability Platform at an event held in Pretoria on 5 November, marking a step towards achieving full livestock traceability in South Africa.

The first confirmed case of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the Western Cape has been reported on a farm near Gouda., prompting an immediate quarantine and control measures to contain the outbreak.

The 2025/26 cherry harvest has begun in the Western Cape, South Africa's largest cherry-growing region. This season sees several new cultivars reaching local markets for the first time.

Despite ongoing global and domestic challenges, South Africa’s economy is showing encouraging signs of resilience, according to Emile du Plessis, senior economist at Standard Bank.

Veterinary authorities have placed a farm in Gouda, Western Cape, under quarantine amid an investigation into a suspected foot-and-mouth disease case, believed to be linked to the recent movement of cattle from the province to the Free State.

Above-normal early-summer rainfall is expected to ease from mid- to late summer, possibly signalling the start of a longer dry cycle.

Thirteen suspects have been arrested for the murder of a farmworker and the rape and stabbing of his wife during a farm attack in Free State in the early hours of Saturday, 1 November.

South Africa’s dairy industry is preparing for the introduction of an oil-based DIVA-type foot-and-mouth disease vaccine from Turkish company Dollvet, expected in early 2026. Final approval and procurement are under way, with supply expected to be limited initially.

Eleven commercial farms across KwaZulu-Natal are set to be transferred to local farmers as part of a major provincial drive to boost food security, job creation, and rural economic growth.