As a result of Hard work by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Stock Theft Recovery Team since the beginning of 2007, livestock to the value of R4,89 million has been recovered from the hands of stock thieves.
According to Inspector Joey Jeevan, spokesperson for the KZN Midlands policing area, much of the recovery team’s success can be attributed to farmers reporting stock thefts speedily, allowing police officials to quickly follow up on crime scenes and leads.
“Farmers have also assisted the team by counting their livestock on a daily basis, branding their cattle and checking farm boundary fences to see if they’ve been cut by stock thieves,” Inspector Jeevan said. K oos Marais of the KZN Agricultural Union’s (Kwanalu) told Farmer’s Weekly they were exceptionally pleased with the success of the recovery team, instituted last year by the KZN provincial police commissioner.
The chairperson of the KZN Red Meat Producers Organisation, Mike Phillips, echoed Marais’s sentiments. Marais urged livestock owners to continue reporting stock thefts to the team as soon as they were discovered, and reminded farmers they don’t have to wait to get a case number from their local police station before contacting the recovery team.
“It’s essential that the team gets onto a trail as soon as possible after a theft. In addition, the team will help livestock owners obtain their case number,” he said. “Should livestock owners in KwaZulu-Natal have a problem trying to get hold of the team, they are welcome to contact the Kwanalu Security Desk for assistance,” Marais concluded. – Lloyd Phillips To contact the KZN Provincial Stock Theft Recovery Team, call 082 566 7201 or 079 500 0644. Contact the Kwanalu Security Desk on (033) 330 3514 or 084 548 3437.
New facility to crush more sunflower crop much faster
Continental Oil Mills (COM) has commissioned a R220 million edible oils crushing facility in Randfontein, which will enable SA to crush its entire local edible oil seed crop more quickly.
This is COM’s second crushing facility and will give this independent, family-owned company the largest share of the local oil-processing industry. According to managing director Mohammed Ferouze Moosa, this places COM on the podium with the biggest single crusher and refiner in SA, capable of crushing up to 24 000t of sunflower seed per month.
“We decided to expand our crushing facilities as we felt it was inevitable the local market would offer these opportunities,” said Moosa. “also wanted to mitigate the Forex exposure on importing sunflower crude oil, and boost local agriculture on the back of an increasing world demand and a weakening local currency.” he commissioning of this facility comes at a time when the high local sunflower crop, estimated at 769 000t, can take advantage of the world sunflower price of R4 500/t for April.
“The world’s population is growing and the demand for food and biodiesel is always going to increase,” said Moosa. “As soon as you have an increase in demand that outstrips supply, you’ll naturally have a competitive environment developing for a product.” Both facilities are ultramodern and use state-of-the-art packaging lines, which rely on artificial intelligence to ensure high productivity levels and high food safety protocols. – David Steynberg
