Opinion

There is sufficient evidence that mechanisation of farming can improve production, reduce losses and help develop rural communities. In this report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests a number of models, such as mechanisation hire services, that can help rural farmers mechanise production without requiring them to invest large sums of capital.

A recent study by Kristiina Ala-Kokko, a researcher at the University of Arkansas in the US, and felllow researchers has shown that, despite the controversy that still surrounds the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, the production of GM maize has resulted in many benefits for South African farmers and consumers.

South Africa’s local government elections will take place on 1 November. One of the core functions of municipalities is to provide services such as refuse removal, the upkeep of certain roads, and the provision of water and electricity.

The farming and processing of edible insects for human and animal consumption appears to be gaining in popularity. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are risks to eating insects that have not been farmed with the correct biosecurity measures in place, and these risks are potentially dangerous to human and animal health.

As governments implemented containment measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, they also introduced ways of limiting the effects of the virus and related lockdowns on agricultural supply chains. A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tracked these initiatives, including the South African government’s response.

The ongoing loss of natural spaces, including forests, has become a systemic risk for the global economy, warns the report, ‘State of Financing for Nature: Tripling investments in nature-based solutions by 2030’, by the United Nations Environment Programme.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations argues that African governments need to invest more in their agriculture sectors in order to promote growth, create jobs and reduce poverty.

I know ignorance is a poor and cowardly excuse. However, as someone born in the early 1980s, I was oblivious when growing up of the terrible and unfair reality that most South Africans were subjected to at the time.

Finding effective and lasting solutions to rural crime will require a collective response from individuals, community organisations, government structures and the police, writes Uys van der Westhuijzen, chairperson of the Agri SA Centre of Excellence for Rural Safety. He cautions, however, that no response can ever be truly effective if it is not supported by an effective criminal justice system.

According to the 2021 statistics yearbook ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’, which presents the latest statistics and emerging trends in organic farming from 187 countries around the world, organic farmland increased by 1,1 million hectares in 2019, and organic retail sales continued to grow.

Climate change is inextricably linked to the accelerating destruction of nature. This report discusses how natural climate solutions, which include land management programmes that increase carbon dioxide storage and reduce carbon emissions, can help tackle both problems simultaneously.

According to Shadrack Ntando Sibisi, executive chairperson of the South Africa Tobacco Transformation Alliance, the five-month long ban on the sale of tobacco products, which formed part of Government’s COVID-19 lockdown regulations, resulted in a sharp increase in illicit tobacco trade, and this trend was not reversed by the lifting of the ban.