Low investment in research hampers agri growth
Dr Sifiso Ntombela, a trade economist at the National Agricultural Marketing Council, writes that as technological advances are being achieved at an ever-faster rate, countries that fail to invest sufficient...
Land reform: speak up now!
Two important pieces of draft legislation that will shape the way that land reform in South Africa will be implemented were published recently, and are currently open for public comment.
The ‘profit-for-purpose’ empowerment model
A new empowerment model championed by a Limpopo-based farming company, Schoonbee Landgoed, and Thebe Investment Corporation aims to establish long-term partnerships between white commercial farmers and black institutional investors while...
The secret to successful farming
We have come to the end of a year, as well as the end of a decade, that seems to have tested South African farmers unlike any other.
Agriculture a vital part of the solution to land degradation
The world’s drylands are becoming hotter and drier. Expanding commercial agriculture and investing in sustainable land management practices are two ways in which governmentscan mitigate this form of land degradation,...
Time for government to do as it says
One of the things I find most frustrating about politics is that what politicians say and promise can differ almost completely from what they do and deliver, yet there are...
Plastic packaging should focus on recycling
There is ‘no silver bullet’ to address South Africa’s plastic conundrum, according to Lorren de Kock, project manager for the circular plastics economy at the Worldwide Fund for Nature –...
Agri commodity prices: what to expect over the next 10 years
The Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, provides a 10-year prospect for agricultural markets at the national,...
Drought now a R1,3 billion disaster
The local agriculture sector has emerged over the past two decades as a major asset in what has become an otherwise ailing economy.
To feed the world, we have to protect the pollinators
Pollinators are responsible for the production of many crops grown for human consumption, but their numbers are declining. To ensure food security, world leaders and agriculture authorities must act now...
Poor governance worsens drought
I’m not a fan of apportioning blame where it isn’t well deserved. However, while the weather is (thankfully) not controlled by government, and we thus can’t blame it for the...
How urban agriculture can contribute to food security
Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa, according to Prof Juaneé Cilliers, chair of the...
A turning point for tractor use in Africa
The latest tractor sales figures released by the South African Agricultural Machinery Association showed that year-to-date tractor sales were significantly down from last year, with the number of tractors sold...
What to do about farming job losses
All things considered, the farming sector in South Africa has not performed too poorly in terms of job losses since the turn of the century. According to Statistics South Africa,...
Fake meat: coming to a supermarket near you
Driven by shrinking arable land, a shift to the consumption of non-meat proteins, and several other factors, ersatz meat products are set to disrupt the lucrative global meat industry. According...
Blame ANC for big farmers’ success
There were two highlights at the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa’s (TAU SA) recent annual congress in Pretoria.
Soil erosion: a big problem with few solutions
Long-term food security is set to suffer if the scourge of soil erosion is not brought under control. Dan Pennock, a professor in soil science at the University of Saskatchewan...
SA’s biggest land reform mistake
Perhaps the single biggest mistake South Africa has made with land reform since 1994 has been to entrust a government department with not only the transfer of land, but also...
Africa’s quiet, but fierce, agri revolution
The well-known saying that change happens slowly at first, and then all at once, is probably a misquote from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, which reads: “How...
Towards climate-smart livestock farming
Natural selection is pivotal in adapting livestock farming to climate change in Africa and beyond, says Prof Charles T Kadzere of the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian...
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