Caxton Magazines
ANC land policy laid bare
The ANC has distributed a series of discussion documents to its branches in the run-up to the ruling party's national policy conference in June, covering a broad range of topics from affirmative action to corruption. These will inform policy decisions taken at the ANC's 52nd National Conference in December and will offer rare insight into the party's thinking on key areas affecting agriculture. Stephan Hofstätter unpacks the implications.
E Cape farmers desperate to stop sheep massacres
Farmers in the Eastern Cape towns of Indwe and Dordrecht have sustained huge losses of their Merino sheep as they are attacked, killed and mauled by stray dogs. Tim and Sharon Salmon investigate.
Communal farmers boost local wool production
Sipiwo Makinana, national executive member of the NWGA, said that the genetic improvement of flocks within communal areas played a significant role in the dramatic increase of wool production in these areas over the past ten years or so.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
‘Farmers will have to fund global wool promotion’
Andre Jooste, Senior Manager of the National Agricultural Marketing Council's Market and Economic Research Centre (MERC) delivered a report to the NWGA congress on research done into the promotion of the SA wool clip. He advised a predominant focus on international promotion, funded - at this stage - by wool growers.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
‘Wool would gain from collaboration’
The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) Test Marketing Programme (TMP) - funded by the wool industry globally, including SA - is geared to investigate how international promotion can increase the consumption of wool to the benefit of the entire industry.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
Green wool focus praised
The NWGA code of conduct for the production of SA wool, which is in the process of formulation, drew praise from key role players in the wool industry at the annual NWGA national congress.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
Good times at the Royal Show
The Royal Show held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal from 25 May to 3 June was a resounding success. According to the Royal Agricultural Society's general manager Terry Strachan, the Royal Show
has become the largest show in the country, incorporating a fully represented agricultural component.
This year attendance figures reached 170 353 people. Lloyd Phillips captured some memorable moments.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
Mining house wins with roses
Living Gold, the high-tech rose farm established by Gold Fields in Carletonville west of Johannesburg, has scooped top honours for the Product of the Year category at the 2006 WesBank Proudly South African (HomeGrown) Awards.
Issue date 22 June 2007
Issue date 22 June 2007
SA facing a supply-side crisis
While the current shortages of staple food products like wheat and maize are drought-related, there is a danger that a structural shortfall in agricultural production will eventually emerge, mainly because of the ongoing attacks on farmers and the policy of pressurising 30% of commercial farmers to leave their land by 2013.
Water weeds could cost farmers millions
Water weeds, both exotic and indigenous, have a phenomenal capacity to reproduce and spread, and uncontrolled, they could have serious negative effects on water quality and price, warned Dr Christo Marais, acting head for operations support at Working for Water (WfW).
Grahamstown to be ostrich hub again
Ostrimark SA plans to restore Grahamstown to its position as one of the country's leading ostrich industry hubs by establishing a leather processing factory in the town.
Parmalat advert milks debate
The latest Parmalat advertisement has left a sour taste in the mouths of numerous SA dairy farmers.
Swifts & jets
Over the years I've rehabilitated many birds of prey. Most of them have survived as I never released any raptor that was unfit. Only a super-fit hawk or eagle can stay alive and only a falconer can train them to this level. It's a wonderful feeling: giving a doomed bird a second life.
The Narnia of braai techniques
Steak on a fire
Choosing the right bit
Riders must choose a bit to suit their young horse's shape and development.
Common element deficiencies in cauliflower
This subject has been covered to some extent in a previous article on cabbages, but as cauliflower is more prone to certain deficiencies, I will discuss these in greater detail.
Gold for Cyril Leibach
Cyril Leibach is a distinguished SA pigeon fancier who takes pleasure in racing pigeons from an orderly loft complex in the garden of his Boksburg residence.
Wanted: overseas street-smarts
We're streets behind New Zealand and Australia when it comes to marketing our agricultural produce, says Mohammad Karaan (right), chairperson of the National Agricultural Marketing Council, and government should take responsibility for this.
Let the farmers enjoy higher prices
'A decrease in import tariffs will only result in lower consumer prices in a perfectly competitive market.'
Will SA’s aquaculture industry float?
Yolan Friedmann, deputy CEO and conservation manager of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, warns that SA must radically change its attitude towards overexploitation of its fishing stocks if it wants to save them.
