South Africa

Political and agricultural entities are calling for an urgent investigation into how 350 cows at an Eastern Cape dairy farming project were allegedly allowed to starve to death last year.

Legal action running to more than R2 billion that had been instituted against the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) as a result of poor land reform and land administration processes, was extremely alarming.

The heavy rainfall experienced across some of South Africa’s tomato production regions in recent weeks has resulted in a shortage of this produce on the country’s fresh produce markets, and a resultant sharp increase in prices since January.

The global luxury leather market has taken a severe knock due to the COVID-19 pandemic decimating the tourist markets where crocodile and ostrich leather products are sold.

While some wine producers are still making money, the majority are struggling to make ends meet.

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) has announced the launch of a R1 billion fund for black farmers in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

Free State Agriculture (FSA) president, Francois Wilken, has expressed the hope that the Free State MEC for Roads, Sam Mashinini, will honour his promise to attend to the poor state of the roads in the Ficksburg area.

Positive sentiment in South Africa’s agriculture sector continued improving in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021) after Q4 2020’s sentiment was initially deemed the most positive since the second quarter of 2014.

Several organisations took part in protest action, organised by the Ficksburg community forum, Sechaba sa Ficksburg, that saw the closure of a number of roads in the district on Wednesday, 17 March.

There is probably truth in all allegations that South Africa’s multinational and smaller tobacco companies have been levelling against each other regarding their supposed involvement in the burgeoning illicit tobacco products trade in both South Africa and other parts of Africa.

Some of the main challenges facing farmers that are reported on in the issue of Farmer’s Weekly I read this morning is the poor-quality of roads, especially in the rural areas, the affordability of farm labour, and the scourge of stock theft. These are all well-known challenges to farmers. However, what might surprise you is that the issue of Farmer’s Weekly in which these problems are discussed was published in March 1917.

Business confidence has declined during the first quarter of 2021 according to the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Business Confidence Index (BCI). The BCI had declined from 40 to 35 points.

Nematodes are far more prevalent and a more serious problem than farmers think. What is more, they cannot be eradicated, but only managed, according to Prof Driekie Fourie of Integrated Pest Management at North-West University (NWU).

The tariffs introduced on poultry imports in 2020 resulted in an increase in the consumer price of chicken. According to some industry role players, further tariff protection risked making this protein source unaffordable to the 40% of South Africans already regarded as poor.

In 2020, the South African economy recorded its most significant decline in annual economic activity since 1946.

New tractor sales continued their strong trajectory nationwide during February, a trend which has been evident since the beginning of the year. However, last month’s combine harvester sales were somewhat below those of February 2020.

There is a novel opportunity for South African farmers to enter the kiwiberry fruit market, which is relatively unknown locally. This is according to Wouter le Roux, owner of fresh produce export company It’sofresh.

Farmers in the Murraysburg district in the Western Cape are currently experiencing the most extensive outbreak of locusts in the area since February last year, covering an area of 10km by 20km, and spanning four farms.

Almost a third of South Africa’s population lives in remote rural areas on communal, subsistence agricultural land.

The South African grain industry is currently riddled with debates about the availability and credibility of market information, despite the fact that the available industry information is trustworthy.