Caxton Magazines
Agriculture portfolio committee hammers new DG over annual report
Newly appointed Director General (DG) of the agriculture department Langa Zita remained largely silent when the 2009/10 annual report was tabled before the parliamentary portfolio committee - a tactic that irked the committee, which has grown increasingly critical of the department of late.
Leaked Green Report considered slippery
Leaders in agriculture are treading warily around the final draft copy of the rural development and land reform Green Paper, which was leaked to the media recently.
Land reform without end
A striking fact about the leaked rural development and land reform Green Paper is the absence of any redistribution targets for white-owned land.
Agricultural parastatals deliver encouraging annual results
Three agricultural parastatals reported that they received unqualified audit reports for 2009/10 and members of parliament's agricultural committee seemed encouraged by the performance results presented in their annual reports.
Namibian minister intervenes in export spat
New developments in the tussle between forensic services contractor Agri Inspec and the heavyweights of Namibian meat production occurred when Agri Inspec's managing director, Dr Hennie Kleynhans, allegedly returned to the border between 27 and 30 September, and, according to a statement put out by him, found fresh evidence that mature cattle were being declared as weaners.
Tailor-made insurance is safest, advises expert
Rising input costs and flat commodity prices mean farmers need to look at tailor-made risk management solutions, said Seamus Casserly, president of the Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA).
Townies, not farmers, using banned pesticides
Many urban residents and gardeners, it seems, are still using the banned pesticides chlordane, dieldrin, DDT and chlorpyrifos, among others.
Welcome wet weather brings relief
Good rainfalls have offered some farmers relief from dry conditions. Rain was mostly concentrated over the eastern parts of the country with isolated rainfall over the central parts, said Grainvest weather analyst Louis Botha.
Too late for the health of South Africa’s freshwater resources?
upmarket national retail chain Woolworths has denied nationwide media reports that it had gone on record with its concerns about the impact polluted irrigation water was having on its fresh produce products.
Gordhan warns about global ‘trade wars’
The global battle between emerging and developed economies to keep national currencies low to boost exports and protect levels of employment, could result in "trade wars", said finance minister Pravin Gordhan at the National Consumer Goods Council Annual Conference.
How to speed up African food production
African countries need to implement home-grown policies to accelerate food production that are better suited to their state of economic growth and development, says Akin Adesina, former president of the African Association of Agricultural Economists. He highlights the main challenges of accelerated agricultural growth on the continent and gives some policy suggestions to overcome these obstacles.
Handling the leopard dilemma
A farmworker was recently badly mauled by a leopard on a game/citrus farm at Hankey, west of Port Elizabeth. This incident has led to the formation of a committee of concerned livestock and game farmers who feel over-zealous conservationists are misreading the leopard situation in the 500 000ha Greater Baviaanskloof. A member of this committee, livestock and game farmer Arthur Rudman of Blaauwkrantz Safaris, Uitenhage, spoke to Roelof Bezuidenhout.
Will blacks ever own land?
Instead of the option to buy at the end of the lease period, the land affairs department simply extends it, which means land reform farmers can't own their own land, writes New on the Land editor Peter Mashala.
Keep your ammo away from ammonia
Storing household cleaning agents incorrectly can cause defects in ammunition, reports Roelof Bezuidenhout.
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Bad news for critically endangered giant sable
Despite looking almost identical, a large population of sable antelope found in western Zambia do not, to the dismay of conservationists, belong to the same subspecies as the critically endangered giant sable of central Angola, genetic research at Stellenbosch University revealed. Denene Erasmus reports.
Why Botswana is good for business
The Botswana Innovation Hub has numerous advantages for the research and development sectors of the Southern African commercial scene.
Persevering with biological pineapples
Making the transition from conventional farming to organic farming, and then to biological farming, hasn't been easy for this Hluhluwe pineapple farmer. But achieving a higher yield in extremely dry conditions has made it worth his while. Robyn Joubert investigates.
Who should get the credit?
The recent tendency among SOME senior market officials to create the impression that they are solely responsible for the successes of a market hasn't abated.
Cabbage basics: nitrogen & soil balance
Many VEGETABLE FARMERS ask what fertiliser to use when planting cabbages. The question assumes each crop has a specific requirement, regardless of what's already in the soil.
A farmer in need is a farmer indeed
After a number of dry years and with part of the region declared a drought disaster area in mid-2009, 2010 was always going to be tough for the members of the Upper Cathcart Farmers Association (UCFA) in the Eastern Cape. And as Mike Burgess discovered, farmers there have been reminded just how isolated they are from efficient state support in times of drought – and that it’s better to rely on the generosity of fellow farmers.
