Helping farmers in Africa to mechanise
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...
The economic and ecosystem impacts of GM maize in SA
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...
The drivers of dismal service delivery
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...
The possible dangers of eating insects
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,...
How COVID-19 changed agricultural policy
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...
How much will it cost to save the planet?
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...
How Africa can benefit from a strong agri sector
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...
How will history judge us?
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...
Rural safety: perception vs reality
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...
COVID-19 and the rise of organic farming
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...
Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss
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...
South Africa’s ‘real tobacco wars’
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...
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