Opinion

Since land ownership, and agricultural land ownership in particular, remains one of South Africa’s most contentious issues, we should ideally have clear, independent and accurate data available to inform any policy decisions about how best to distribute and utilise land.

It’s a feeling anyone who has grown up on a farm knows well: the excruciating helplessness of looking out over your parched veld or crops and watching rain fall from heavy clouds in the distance, on another family’s farm.

In poorer nations, buying the ingredients for a single meal can use up a significant portion of a person’s earnings. Where there is conflict or economic collapse, it can exceed these earnings outright. Researchers involved with the World Food Programme propose what should be done to ensure true food security.

Try to think back, and ask yourself if two years ago you would have believed that a global first-class city would run out of water, or that a US president would openly make jokes about nuclear warfare or be overtly racist, and not only get away with it, but embolden his millions of supporters in doing so. I would not have believed it!

Claims have emerged that institutions such as the World Bank are ‘doctoring’ the methods they use to measure food security, competitiveness and other factors in developing countries.

The general feeling of relief that South Africa’s business community may have felt when it was announced that Cyril Ramaphosa had won the ANC leadership race was short-lived for those in agriculture.

It’s not only farmers who have to adapt to the fundamental changes occurring in world agriculture, or go out of business. Agricultural economists also have to adapt. This is the warning from Bongiswa Matoti, president of the Agricultural Economists’ Association of South Africa.

At the end of last year, two reports were published that exposed findings so disturbing that if this knowledge does not spur South Africans into action to save the country’s future, I doubt anything will.

In his BCom Hons research paper, Mlungisi Mama examines why so few black youths are interested in agriculture as a career. His conclusion is that they believe the sector comprises little more than farmers and farmworkers, and are unaware of the job opportunities available in various agricultural disciplines. Rectifying this will demand an education campaign run jointly by several government departments.

Meaningful land reform is crucial, not only to allay the farming community’s fears, but to help restore the economy and benefit South Africa’s poor.

At Farmer’s Weekly we focus mostly on the ‘how’ of farming and provide a steady stream of practical information that can help farmers improve the efficiency, sustainability and profitability of their businesses.

India’s self-sufficiency in grains is no accident. In the 1960s, in response to food shortages, the country began systematically modernising its agricultural sector. This was achieved through government subsidies, research into improved seed, manufacturing of farming equipment, and other interventions. Sub-Saharan Africa can learn many lessons from India’s ‘Green Revolution’.

The past two years have been tough for the local agricultural sector, and the strain that farmers and agribusinesses have been under is really starting to show.

The use of agrochemicals in the commercial production of fresh produce is widespread in South Africa and elsewhere. However, according to Tom Murray, technical manager at Woolworths, retailers realise that many shoppers are growing concerned about the possible health threats of agrochemicals.

Farmer’s Weekly has been proudly serving the Southern African agricultural sector for the past 106 years, and one of the reasons why we have managed to keep going for over a century is our absolute dedication to continually adapting to the changing needs of you, our readers.

As the political situation in Zimbabwe started heating up in mid-November, Farmer’s Weekly published a news story on its website about how the departure of President Robert Mugabe may affect the future of farming in that country.

Speaking at a technical information day hosted by the Dried Fruit Technical Services and Canning Fruit Producers’ Association, environmentalist Dave Pepler focused on individual responsibility in terms of climate change and damage to the environment.

Farming the markets’ originates from the analogy that exists between personal finance (investing) and farming.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the impact of widespread drought conditions across South Africa over the past three years has now become a humanitarian disaster.

The 2017 ‘Food loss and waste: facts and futures’ report, compiled by the WWF-SA, investigates food loss and waste in South Africa. According to the report, a third of all food in the country is not consumed, but wasted, while millions of South Africans go to bed hungry every night.