Category: CROPS

Christo van der Rheede, executive director of Agri SA, told Farmer’s Weekly that the only way to guarantee food security in South Africa would be through the immediate action by government and Eskom to relieve the crippling burden of load-shedding on farmers. “Without urgent action, South Africa can expect crop failure, higher food prices and shortages of…

The Gaborone High Court will deliver judgment in a case in which Fresh Standard, a Botswana-based company, is fighting for the right to obtain a licence to grow hemp and cannabis plants for industrial use on Kangwe farms. The company’s attorney, Charles McErick, confirmed to Farmer’s Weekly that a ruling in the case had been scheduled to…

African countries have made remarkable investments to keep their economies afloat and protect the lives and livelihoods of their people over the past year, according to Albert G. Zeufack, World Bank chief economist for Africa. “Ambitious reforms that support job creation strengthened equitable growth. The protection of the vulnerable and contribution to environmental sustainability will…

COVID-19’s arrival in Africa has exacerbated pre-existing major challenges to the continent’s food production and nutrition security. These include droughts, floods, extreme temperatures, outbreaks of crop and livestock pests and diseases, and generally low economic growth. READ Fresh herb demand falters as COVID-19 shuts restaurants This was according to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and…

Africa is coming up with its own solutions to the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a statement by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The bank’s COVID-19 Response Facility was in the process of mobilising $10 billion (about R194 billion) to provide financial assistance to African countries to fight the pandemic.…

Applications are now open for the second annual GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition. Generation Africa, which launched the competition in 2019, provided support to young entrepreneurs in Africa’s agrifood sector by linking them with tools, knowledge, mentors and investors. The competition was launched in partnership with Econet, a pan-African telecommunications, technology and renewable energy group, and…

With statistics prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic suggesting that one in five people in Africa suffers from hunger, it is important that agriculture be recognised as an “essential service” on the continent. This was stated in a joint declaration issued following a recent meeting between agriculture ministers and representatives from all 55 members…

Not knowing what to do after finishing his military service back in the 1970s, Michael Kaplan set off to work on a kibbutz in Israel, where he was exposed to banana, dairy and chicken production. From there, he backpacked through Europe, and was particularly impressed by the new technologies that farmers in the Netherlands were…

Johannes Griesel has been producing carrots on the farm Wilson’s Fort in the Bainsvlei area of Bloemfontein for the past 25 years. He started growing the vegetable under his brand name, Eat JJ’s, as an alternative to the potatoes his father had been planting. “The soil was depleted, so I had to look for an…

Maize producer AC van Wyk does his job well. So well, in fact, that he has grown the area under maize on his farm from fewer than 300ha in 2002 to over 9 000ha. AC, who is Grain SA’s Producer of the Year for 2017, is the seventh generation on the farm Warmhoek, where his…