Grain hedging: lessons from the farmers who get it right
Since South African agriculture converted from control boards to the free market system in the 1990s, farmers have had to learn how to contend with extreme volatility on commodity markets....
Consider the environment when expanding your farm
Obtaining environmental authorisation with the help of technical consultants prior to expanding farming operations on virgin soil will help farmers avoid prosecution that could lead to hefty fines or even...
‘Green’ livestock production: the facts and the fictions
Global livestock production is increasingly under attack from certain societal groupings who claim that the sector is causing unnecessary environmental harm. Dr Jude Capper, of UK-based Livestock Sustainability Consultancy, explains...
SA agri training needs drastic digital overhaul
Digital technologies and innovations have the potential to revolutionise the world’s food systems. This is why agricultural education and training, particularly in South Africa, needs to be revisited as a...
Commercial farmers’ vital role in rural development
Largely failed land reform initiatives are leading to increased tension and uncertainty in the agriculture sector as a whole. Veteran rural development expert Jimmy Lonsdale believes commercial farmers have a...
On the verge of success: SA’s ‘municipal farmers’
A new class of emerging farmer working the land on municipal commonages have similarities to the ‘kulaks’, the highly productive, early 20th century entrepreneurial Russian farmers drawn from the peasantry....
Bees the victims of irresponsible pesticide use
Honeybees are the world’s best-known pollinators of natural flora and a vast array of food and fibre crops. Yet they are frequently harmed by human activities, writes CropLife South Africa’s...
Integrated financing for smallholder farmers
Africa’s agricultural potential can only be realised if smallholders gain access to finance. But loans cannot be focused on just one aspect of the value chain at the expense of...
A sustainable approach to feeding the world by 2050
There is a large shortfall between the amount of food being produced in the world today and the quantity needed to feed an expected 10 billion people by 2050. A...
The difference half a degree of global warming can make
The ‘Global Warming of 1.5˚C’ report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlights several climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1,5˚C, compared with...
Why smallholders need to think like entrepreneurs
As irrigation schemes are found mostly in areas with high poverty levels, smallholder irrigation presents major opportunities for reducing rural poverty. However, smallholder irrigation is performing below expectations. A new...
Study shows which policies succeed in developing agriculture
Research by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the International Institute for Sustainable Development analysed progress in agricultural development in 117 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to...
Self-development: shaping young farmers into future leaders
Dr René Uys, director of Thinking Fusion AFRICA, argues that young South African farmers need to have the emotional fortitude to face up to the often harsh realities of agriculture...
Prepare for the supermarket of the future
Disruptive change is coming to supermarkets and this will have a ripple effect throughout the food industry supply chain. According to Bjorn Thumas, director of business development at TOMRA Food,...
Kenyan model shows how to support emerging farmers
Professor Cyril Nhlanhla Mbatha of Unisa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership outlines some key production and marketing strategies to help promote the economic sustainability of smallholder farmers, and therefore more...
Data sharing in the fresh produce industry
According to Ed Treacy, vice-president of supply chain efficiencies for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), blockchain technology holds great possibilities for improving efficiency and traceability in the fresh produce sector....
Africa’s swelling population problem
Overpopulation and managing population growth are some of the most difficult subjects to write about.
Homeland consolidation: a forerunner of land reform?
Zimbini Coka, a junior lecturer at the University of the Free State’s Department of Agricultural Economics, visited areas that became part of the Ciskei homeland through consolidation in the 1970s...
Time for Africa to treat agriculture as a business
Rural economies in Africa have become zones of economic misery. According to Dr Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, stimulating economic growth in these areas through agriculture and...
It’s time for smallholder farmers to enter value chains
The expropriation without compensation debate has been making national headlines since last year, with many proponents arguing that it would economically empower the poor. However, Zamikhaya Maseti, a senior specialist...
ADVERTISEMENT
MUST READS
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
