Opinion

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 resources in research and development risk falling behind and becoming uncompetitive.

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.

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 helping new-entrant farmers achieve financial viability, writes Gert Schoonbee.

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.

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, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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 zero consequences.

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 – South Africa. However, the fruit industry can start addressing the issue by moving away from packaging that is aesthetically pleasing to recyclable and reusable packaging methods.

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, regional and global level. Prices for most agricultural commodities are expected to remain flat over the period as consumption of staple foods remains stagnant.

The local agriculture sector has emerged over the past two decades as a major asset in what has become an otherwise ailing economy.

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 to save these crucial species, says the Food and Health Organization of the United Nations.

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 lack of rain, we can blame the extent of the impact the drought has had on South Africans on the almost complete breakdown of proper governance at municipal level.

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 Urban and Regional Planning Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University.