South Africa

Global cotton consumption is expected to decline 11,8% this year compared with the previous season, which will reduce global trade to 8,26 million tons in 2019/2020, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).

Although prospects for South Africa’s 2020 guava crop have been, for the most part, favourable so far this season, there is concern that there will not be enough workers available for harvesting due to the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Despite generous donations of animal feed to the drought-stricken farmers in the Northern Cape, sheep numbers in the province continue to decline dramatically.

Due to disruptions across the entire wool supply chain, as a result of the restrictions to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, there was not enough wool available to hold a scheduled auction on 13 May this week.

In this episode of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Farmer’s Weekly editor, Denene Erasmus, and journalist, Sabrina Dean, discuss the top stories featured in the 22 & 29 May issue of the magazine. They discuss how the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will affect South Africa’s imports of wheat, a commodity for which the country is a net importer, for the rest of the year.

Early estimates for the 2020 malting barley season suggest that the hectares planted to this crop will continue to increase as it has since 2016.

Despite having taken an initial knock in demand on international and local markets as a result of global trade and movement restriction to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, South Africa’s avocado growers are now seeing a steady, positive turnaround.

South Africa’s private wildlife ranching value chain, worth well over R15 billion annually before the national lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic brought it almost to a standstill, is now on the brink of collapse.

The livestock auction industry in South Africa has suffered major setbacks during the past six months.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a severe impact on the South African horticulture sector, due to confusion about which industries were allowed to resume normal trade. 

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in yet another upheaval in South Africa’s agricultural value chain.

Western Cape grain producers are facing another challenging planting season, according to Toit Wessels, assistant manager of marketing and Nampo at Grain SA.

An outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been reported in the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, after authorities investigated the cause of death in 50 pigs from the area.

In this episode of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Farmer’s Weekly editor, Denene Erasmus, and journalist, Sabrina Dean, discuss the top stories featured in the 15 May issue of the magazine. Erasmus also provides an update on how the recently announced closure of Caxton Magazines will affect Farmer’s Weekly.

The six-week national lockdown has been devastating for the South African wine industry.

Entities responsible for protecting South African consumers from unscrupulous practices are sorting through an unprecedented number of public complaints related to alleged excessive pricing of food products by retailers during the national lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Sussex Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa celebrated its centenary on Wednesday, 6 May.

In order to further support smallholder and communal farmers during the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform (agriculture department) is working on plans to open a second application window for funding.

Numerous KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) farmers have been directly or indirectly involved in donating food and other resources to increasingly poverty-stricken residents in their local communities.

The 2020 pecan nut harvest is currently underway in most of South Africa’s production regions.